The Secrets: Hidden behind the Mask
by Fluffynz
Summary: AU from Season 02xE09: Special Education. Santana told Rachel about her sleeping with Finn last year and that he lied to her about it. Rachel did not cheat on Finn with Noah but instead she decided to break up with him as she has had enough with lying to herself about being gay, and to stop hiding behind her school/glee Rachel diva mask and be her real self. more summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: AU from the beginning of Season 2, episode 9: Special Education. Santana told Rachel about her sleeping with Finn last year and that Finn has been lying to her about it. Rachel did not cheat on Finn with Noah but instead she decided to break up with him as she has had enough with lying to herself about being gay, and to stop hiding behind her school/glee Rachel diva mask and to bring the true Rachel out. Soon she will find out the real reason why someone wanted Rachel and Finn to break up. Secrets will be uncovered but for the good or the bad. This story will try and follow some of glee season two story lines. So there will be some scenes from the show that will be in here. **

**AU right after Santana tells Rachel. **

**Pairing not sure yet but it will be one of the Unholy Trinity that ends up with Rachel and the other two Unholy Trinity will be paired together, so I'll leave it up to you readers for what pairing happens, highest pairing votes wins. Will have Puck/Rachel friendship, Rachel/Kurt friendship, like in season 2 and eventual Unholy Trinity/Rachel friendship and a few others later on. All relationships will be slow burning.**

**AN: Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the Characters owned by Fox. Beginning of this chapter starts just like the show.**

**This Chapter was beta'd by Wheelie91. Thank you for your hard work**

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><p><em>Edited by Wheelie91 1202/14_

The Secrets: hidden behind the mask.

Chapter One:

The New Directions were all sitting in the choir room; the room was filled of chatter and laugher as everyone waited for Mr. Schuester to arrive to start the lesson. They were all excited about sectionals that were coming up but they were all saddened that Kurt was part of the warblers and now their competition.

Rachel was seated next to her boyfriend Finn Hudson in the front. She continued to watch the door for Mr. Schue to arrive so that she could give him her idea for sectionals. Mr. Schuester arrived in the room as he carried his folder in his hands and placed it on the piano when he got in front of it. Rachel immediately raised her hand and stood up in front of her chair.

"Mr. Schuester, I have an announcement, I have selected the perfect moving ballad for Finn and I to sing to launch our performance at sectionals…"

"Me, first," Mr. Schue interrupted Rachel before she was able to continue, "Two things, first our competition at sectionals are classic stool choirs; great voices but they don't move. Now, if we are going to beat them, we need to do what they can't; dance. Which is why, I've decided to feature Brittany and Mike Chang's sweet moves in our performance."

The students started chattering about Mr. Schuester's idea.

"Wait, they're going to dance in front of me while I sing my solo?" Rachel asked, clearly upset by his idea.

"You're not getting a solo for this competition Rachel," Mr. Schue replied, as he saw Rachel clearly become upset by his idea. What he didn't know or anyone else in the room, expect one, was that Rachel was struggling within herself, as the real Rachel Berry was fighting with the diva Rachel Berry. The Diva Rachel was an act, or a mask to cover her real self from the others, to protect herself. Some days she wondered why she still had her mask on when she was sick and tired of all the abuse that she got at school but then, she always remembered that it will be the only way to insure that she left this town.

"Finally, so what song do I get to sing?" Mercedes asked as she grinned.

"I was thinking that the winners of our duets competitions would take the leads." Mr. Schue replied as he looked at Sam and Quinn, who each had a smile appeared on their faces.

"Ken and Barbie? Wait, a-are you trying to throw this?" Diva Rachel asked _'Ha-ha, Ken and Barbie, so true. They look like they could be brother and sister, not boyfriend and girlfriend' _Rachel laughed to herself._ 'They are so gross together'_

"You used to be just sort of unlikeable but now I pretty much feel like punching you every time you open your mouth" Quinn said to Rachel as Sam, who was seated next to Quinn, smiled at this. _'I'd like to see you try, blondie, you wouldn't be able to touch me before I have you on the ground out cold,' _Rachel thought to herself._ 'Shit, shit, have to be careful, still at school. Argh wish I wasn't here right now'_

"Okay, listen. I have talked the talk about everyone in here feeling special for over a year now but, frankly, I haven't walked the walk. I mean, we have got a lot of talent here, and I'm gonna highlight it" Mr. Schue said to the group.

Rachel nudged Finn in the side " Do something?" she told him as she realized that she still had to play her part as everyone knew that she would try and stop this.

"Look, I'm all for pumping up the team. Making everyone feel special, but that's for practice, you don't take out the star quarterback out before the big game." Finn said .

"Yep," Rachel nodded her head.

"Easy to say when you're the star quarterback" Tina told him _'Yeah, that is true, but a really bad one at that' _Rachel thought mentality giggled to herself.

"This isn't just about me, this is about the team." Finn replied back.

"You are such a hypocrite," Santana jumped in and said to Finn.

"Like you even know what that means," Rachel replied to defend Finn as part of her act.

"It means that your boyfriend is full of crap, hobbit." Santana argued back.

"You know what?" Rachel said as she stood up from her chair and faced Santana who was seated behind them, "Ever since the wedding, you've been up my butt, and I'm sick of it." _'Seriously what has been her problem, I know she's been a bigger bitch than normal lately, but what the hell?'_

"Come on, Rachel. She's not worth it" Finn said to Rachel, hoping that it might calm her down.

"Oh, Really?" Santana replied before Rachel could, "Cause that's not what you thought last year in that motel room," Santana said as she bend closer to Finn from behind him. _'What the hell is she talking about?' _Rachel thought to herself as she looked between Finn and Santana_.' _"That's right, Yentl. You're Sweetheart. He's been lying to you. Cause he and I totally got it on last year" She said to Rachel as looked at her. _'He's been lying to me all this time even after I came clean about what happened between Jesse and I. Well, lack of really, thank god. Eww, I totally just grossed myself out, but then again I have been lying to him about who I really am, for all this time.'_

"Okay, enough already," Mr. Schue butted in before Rachel could go all diva. _'Of course, he would jump in. He doesn't want me to make a scene but really, he just wants to protect Finn.' _Rachel sighed.

Everyone else was not surprised as most of them already knew about Santana and Finn having had slept together last year.

"No more conversations about this or-or anything. This is our plan for sectionals and that is that. Mike and Brittany, come on up. Let's start choreographing." Mr. Schue said.

Rachel finally returned to her seat next to Finn. She couldn't look at him or even talk to him. She had to process everything that has just happened in this room. Rachel knew that it was a good time to break up with Finn, she didn't know how much longer she might be able to carry on with this fake relationship. Fake on her half, Finn had believed, since they got back together, that the relationship had been real. _'Oh, if only he knew the truth,'_ Rachel laughed to herself. Rachel was sick and tired of Finn. He had tried countless times to push their relationship to the next level. Of course Rachel didn't want that, as if she would ever sleep with him, let alone any male. The truth was Rachel Berry was gay, she had come to terms of her sexuality some time ago, but she hadn't planned on sharing that information with anyone yet. It was for the best that she had kept it a secret. It could destroy everything that she has built for herself. That was part of the reason she had decided to date Finn, even if dating him has made her feel sick half the time. There was, of course a few people who were close to Rachel who knew that she was gay and that they were very supported of her being gay.

Rachel continued to sit there as she watched Mr Schue, Brittany and Mike practice the choreographing for sectionals. Rachel had thought it was a good idea to use Brittany and Mike's dancing talents. They were the best dancers that they have and they should be able to show that. If she was being truthful to herself, she actually didn't care that Mr Schue didn't give her a solo or even a duet for the competition. Sam and Quinn really did sound good together, even if Quinn didn't have the power behind her voice like she did. It was going to show the other choir groups that they have a lot of amazing singers in their club, and that Rachel didn't always have to lead the New Directions.

Rachel stayed seat in her chair as she watched the clock tick away the seconds til the end of glee. She had come to a decision and it was for the best. She was going to break up with Finn and move forward. Rachel knew that Finn isn't going to like it but it was the prefect exit without her revealing her secret to the world, well mainly this school. Rachel was terrified that people will work out her secret; she didn't want happened with Kurt to happen to her, especially that she was raised by two gay men. She imagined that she would get it ten times worse than Kurt because of that fact. Her fathers didn't know that she was gay and was okay that they didn't know.

Rachel was deep in thought that she didn't realize that glee had finished for the day until she felt Finn's huge hands on her arm. She snapped out of thoughts and turned to look at Finn, that is when she realized that Mr Schue had already left for the day but everyone else had stayed seated in their chairs. Even though they were talking to each other but Rachel knew better, they all wanted to be witnesses to the Finn and Rachel drama. _'Seriously do these people have nothing else better to do than watch teenage relationship drama' _Rachel scoffed to herself.

Rachel cringed at having Finn's hand on her arm. His hands were huge, and she didn't like that his hand was still on her. It was time for her to put an end to this, time to take her mask off and show everyone who she really was. That Rachel would no longer put up this act and would stand up to the people who have made her life a living hell.

"Yes, Finn?" Rachel asked him.

"Class is over. Are you okay?" Finn calmly replied as he hoped that she wasn't mad at him.

"I can see that," Rachel scoffed "and yes, I am fine." She stood up from her chair and trekked over to the piano. She had planned to leave but in the end she decided to do it there, as everyone was still seated in their chairs. She could see and hear that everyone had stopped what they were doing so that they could watch Finn and her.

"Cool, I was worried that you might be mad at me," Finn replied as he rubbed the back of his neck before he got up and followed Rachel to the piano.

"No, I'm not mad, just upset that you didn't come clean about it when I told you about what really happened between Jesse and I." Rachel said calmly without looking at him.

"I know I should have, but it didn't mean anything to me," Finn said.

"Clearly, if it didn't mean anything to you, then why lie about it?" Rachel asked, still not looking at him.

"Cause I didn't want you mad at me, that we wouldn't have gotten back together." Finn said, raising his voice a bit.

"I see, would you've continued to lie to me, if Santana hadn't just told me in front of everyone?" Rachel asked, curious to know the answer.

"Umm, I don't know, probably." Finn muttered, rubbing the back of his neck again.

Rachel snorted loudly before she turned to face Finn; she crossed her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "I see, so you don't know if you were ever going to come clean about it?" she asked.

"I don't know, look I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. It's just that it didn't mean anything to me and I didn't want it to cause any drama between us," Finn replied.

"It must have meant something to you, for you and everyone else to keep it from me?" Rachel asked as she looked at everyone else in the room to confirm what she already knew.

"But it didn't, okay, it was only with Santana, so didn't mean anything," Finn almost yelled out, his anger was starting to get the best of him. He was sick and tired of Rachel going around in circles.

"Was that meant to make me feel better?" Rachel asked as she watched Finn's temper make an appearance. She always did find Finn's quick temper very amusing and hilarious, "Because it was only with Santana?"

"Well, yes. It's not like she cared about it. Look Rachel, we can make this work, how about we go out tonight for dinner or something?" Finn asked, in hopes that this might change the subject and move on from it.

Rachel could see that Finn was trying to change the topic, hoping that they didn't need to talk about it and go back to normal. _'As if that was going to work' _Rachel thought,_ "I'm going to end this once and for all' _

"No, I'm not interested in going out with you tonight, Finn." Rachel calmly replied as she made her way back to chair to pick up her bag.

"Okay, how about we just hang out tonight at yours then and order take out?" Finn desperately asked Rachel as he followed her.

"No, Finn, I'm sorry but I'm not interested in spending time with you tonight," Rachel replied as she looked back at him.

"Oh, okay, how about Friday or this weekend?" Finn asked again in hopes that Rachel would agree.

"Oh my god, Finn, no, I don't want to spend time with you at all, even if you do change the day." Rachel replied, still very calm.

"Wait, what? What do you mean that you don't want to spend time with me?" Finn asked, still very confused to why Rachel didn't want to spend time with him. He was sure that they could work this out and move on from it. His relationship with Rachel was important to him, he loved her.

Rachel looked at the confused look that was on his face. She did a quick scan around the room and she could clearly see that everyone was watching them in interest. It was clear on some of their faces that they knew what she was doing, even if Finn was very slow at working out the clues. "What it means is that you and I are over. I am breaking up with you." Rachel said as she looked back at Finn.

"WHAT?!" he yelled out, as his face went bright red, "You're breaking up with me because I slept with Santana and then lied to you about it?" Finn asked angrily, clearly not happy that Rachel was breaking up with him.

Rachel burst out in laugher as she looked at him, she couldn't help it, his face when he was angry was sometimes the funniest thing to see. He got this constipated look on his face when he was angry. Rachel could see that everyone else in the room was very confused as to why Rachel was breaking up with him as they all believed that she was deeply in love with the boy question and why she was laughing like the way that she was.

It took Rachel a few more seconds before she calmed down and looked at Finn while she wiped the tears of laugher away before she addressed him. "No, Finn, the reason that I am breaking up with you isn't because you fucked Santana last year," she heard everyone gasped in shock as they just heard Rachel Berry swore for the first time ever, "or any other girls you may or may not have fucked, though I am surprised that you were able to fuck anyone with your fun size penis. Let alone, be able to get anywhere near a pussy without your early arrival problem rearing its ugly head." Rachel said as her school mask dropped and the real Rachel made her appearance. Rachel heard a few snigger at what she had just said but most of them were silent.

Finn and some of the others were stunned into silence. They couldn't get over the fact that Rachel had sworn not once but three times and also that she had just made fun of Finn. This was not the Rachel Berry that they knew. This person was the complete opposite of her.

"What the hell Rachel? Why did you just make fun of me and why are you breaking up with me if you don't care about me having sex with Santana?" Finn asked angrily.

"Because I wanted to, it was too easy to make fun of you." Rachel replied as she shrugged her shoulders, not really wanting to get into it with Finn.

"Rachel, what is going on with you and why are you doing this?" Finn said angrily.

"I'm breaking up with you because I feel like it and I think it's for the best that we do. At least now you can find some girl who might be willing to spread her legs for you, even though they will be the biggest idiot to do that." Rachel replied as she grabbed her bag and made her move to leave the room, while everyone else just sat in their seats with shunned and confused looks on their faces.

"Rachel, I love you and you love me. Why are you breaking up with me?" Finn said as he angrily grabbed Rachel's wrist before she walked away.

"Remove your hand from my wrist, now." Rachel hissed out in anger. It was clear that she was angry by the fact that he had grabbed her wrist.

"Not before you tell me, why? I deserve to know why you are breaking up with me if it's not because I slept with Santana," Finn angrily spat out as he continued to hold her wrist.

"Remove your hand right now before I have to ask you a third time," Rachel hissed out, getting tired of this.

Finn did not listen to Rachel and he just continued to speak, "I just need to know why because you can't break up with…" Finn's sentence was cut off by someone punching him in the face and then he proceeded to land ass first on the ground. Everyone could hear the crunch sound as someone's fist connected to Finn's nose, possibly breaking it.

"Ow! Mother fucker, that fucking hurt like a bitch, is your head filled of bricks or something, if so, it would probably explain why you're so thick all the time." Rachel shouted out in pain as she looked at my hand. Everyone snapped their heads back to Rachel as they had heard her swear again and they watched her as she looked at her hand.

"What the hell Rachel? You punched me and I think you might have broken my nose," Finn whined out in pain as he has covered his nose with hands to try and stop the bleeding.

"So I did," as she looked down at him. "Let that serve you as an reminder to what will happen if you ever put your grubby, sausage fingers on me again, oh and keep your mouth shut as I really don't want to hear you whine like a little bitch that we all know that you can be at times," Rachel said in her bitch tone that could make a run for Santana's money.

Finn just nodded in reply as he was still stunned by the fact his girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend now, had just punched him and the words that were coming out of mouth. This side of Rachel actually scared him as he had NEVER heard or seen her this way before.

"Good." She said and turned around and walked over to the door but then turned around and looked over at the scene and felt everyone's eyes were on her. A few of them were terrified as they have never seen this side of Rachel and the others were too flabbergasted.

"Oh Finny boy, you might want to get that check out as soon as possible, it looks really bad from here," She said as a lethal smirk graced her lips. She watched as Finn gulped and then nodded his head at her. Rachel turned her head to look at Santana who was already looking at her. Rachel kept the same smirk on her lips and addressed the Latina "Oh and by the way, Santana, you are welcome to have him now, although I would feel every sorry for you if you decide to date his giant ass, but oh well. Bye everyone" Rachel smirked as she turned around and gracefully walked to the door, but before she left the room completely she quickly glanced over her shoulder to see the bewildered looks that were present on everyone's faces as they watched her walk away, which brought Rachel to another fit of laughter and then proceeded to leave the room.

The rest of the New Directions continued to sit there as they watched Rachel leave the room as her laugher could be heard as she walked down the hall. No one knew what to say or even react to the scene that they had just seen.

After what seemed like hours, Tina broke the silence, "What just happened?" she asked the room.

"That is actually a very good question, because I don't even know how to answer that." Mercedes said as she recovered her voice.

"Did we enter the twilight zone or something because that was just freaky?" Sam asked the group.

"I have no idea," Quinn replied to her boyfriend's question, clearly still stunned.

Puck stood up from her chair and made his way over to Finn, who was still on the floor with his hands covering up his face.

"Come on dude, let's get you to the nurse to get you checked out" Puck said as he helped Finn up from the ground.

Finn nodded his head in reply as he was in a lot of pain from being punched. Everyone watched them as they too left the room.

"I actually can't believe that Rachel swore," Brittany said to break the silence again as everyone had just watched Puck and Finn leave the room.

"Me either, let alone punch Finn." Artie replied to his girlfriend's question.

"It was hot though," Brittany said, causing everyone to snap their heads to her in confusion "What?" she asked, when she looked at everyone's confused faces.

"You found the hobbit hot?" Santana asked her friend

"Well yeah, the way she swore and basically tore Finn a new one with her words. Oh, just like you and Quinn do, when someone has pissed you off." Brittany replied.

"Oh my god, she was channeling the both of you at the same time" Mercedes blurted out.

"Oh please, as if she can be a bigger bitch than me," Santana scoffed and flicked her ponytail with her hand and Quinn nodded her head in an agreement to Santana's sentence.

"But then explain why the Rachel we just saw was being a bitch and said all those things to Finn. The Rachel we have come to know, until today, would never have done those things. I thought she was deeply in love with him. We all remember what happened last year." Tina said.

"Yeah I wish we could explain what we just saw, but I have no answers." Mike answered his girlfriend.

"Did you all see the way she stayed calm the whole entire time that she was speaking to him, until Finn didn't remove his hand from her?" Sam asked.

"Yeah that was weird. I was expecting Rachel to go all diva on him, like we have seen before but she didn't." Mercedes replied, still very confused by Rachel's actions today.

"In a way I can understand why Rachel punched Finn in the end. He deserved it for not removing his hand from her wrist, which she clearly asked twice for him to do." Tina said.

"But Rachel doesn't like violence." Brittany said.

"Well, clearly that has changed. I mean; hobbit must know how to throw a punch to be able to knock Finnept to the ground like the way she did and she probably broke his nose." Santana stated.

"What are you trying to say S, that Berry knows how to fight?" Quinn asked her friend.

"That is exactly what I'm saying. Hobbit must have had some training," Santana told the group.

"If that is true, it's kind of scary." Brittany said sadly.

"I doubt that she would use it against us." Santana said as she tried to calm Brittany.

"And yet she punched her now ex-boyfriend in the face." Tina replied to Santana's comment.

"That is true," Mike muttered.

"Do you think we need to worry?" Tina inquired to the group.

"Oh hell no, the diva will be back to normal tomorrow, demanding that she gets the solo for Sectionals, then probably end up back with Finn by the end of week, after she gets over the fact that he had lied about sleeping with Santana. Anyway I'm out, see you all tomorrow." Mercedes said as she grabbed her bag that was beside her chair and got up from it and left the room.

"You know, I don't think what Mercedes has just said will happen. Something tells me from the way Rachel acted today was just beginning," Tina said after she watched Mercedes leave the classroom.

"You can't be serious," Santana mocked "Wheezy has Yentl pegged to a tee. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow."

"But S, what if you and Mercedes are wrong about Rachel and she changes?" Brittany asked her friend. "I mean, what do we really know about her?"

"That she's loud and busy and throws diva storm outs all that, but it doesn't matter; I'll protect you and I'll warn the hobbit to stay away from you," Santana voiced to her friend, hoping that it will keep her calm.

"Don't worry B, I'll make sure that she remembers her place here," Quinn answered.

"Are you sure that will work, cause none of us truly know Rachel and what she can do? Rachel punched Finn, and she did say some real mean things to him and we all thought that she was in love with him." Brittany responded sadly.

"Britt, you don't have to worry. You are safe, okay." Santana murmured calmly.

"Do you truly believe that? Something made Rachel snap today and we have no idea if the Rachel we have known until today will be back tomorrow and things will return to normal." Mike scoffed as he looked over to the three Cheerios.

"Oh please, it's just Berry creating more drama than usual." Quinn sneered.

"From where I sit, I don't believe that." Tina muttered.

"Look, this is pointless, this maybe a one off thing. Maybe in a few days everything will have calmed down." Sam told the group, in order to try and keep the peace.

"I think Sam is right maybe we should wait and see what tomorrow brings." Artie said.

"Fine, but if the Hobbit steps out of line, I'll teach her a lesson" Santana said as she stood up and held her hand out for Brittany to take.

"Okay, we will wait and see." Brittany replied as she too stood up and took Santana's hand.

"See you all losers later." Santana called out as they both left the choir room with Artie trailing behind them.

"Never a dull moment in glee," Sam snickered as he also stood from his chair as he waited for Quinn to pack her bag so that they could both leave together. They said their good byes to Mike and Tina and left the room.

Both Mike and Tina were the only two were actually concerned about what tomorrow may bring for everyone. They didn't talk about what happened today in glee again, they too hoped that Sam was right and it was just a one-time thing.

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><p>When Rachel arrived at her house after she left the choir room, she went straight to the freezer she pulled out a packed of frozen peas to place on her hand. She was sure that it was probably going to bruise but she couldn't care less, it wasn't the first time she had a bruised hand from punching. Finn deserved it in the end; she had asked him twice to remove his hand from her wrist.<p>

She poured herself a glass of water then made her way upstairs. Once Rachel reached her room, she placed her glass of water down on the desk then she threw the frozen peas on the bed. She sighed to herself as she flopped on her bed. She was still stunned that she was able to stand up for herself and show everyone in glee part of who she really was. Rachel was happy with how things went with Finn; she didn't want to punch him in the face and in the process breaking his nose but she thought maybe it was for the best. Rachel sat herself up on her bed; she stood up and headed to her bathroom. She turned on the taps to fill the bath up. She decided that she would need a bath to relax after what went down today.

After the bath was filled to the right height and temperature, she turned the taps off and proceeded to strip her clothes off and climb in the bath.

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><p>Sometime later after Rachel had her bath and did her homework, she found herself laid out on the couch, wearing black booty shorts and a purple wife beater; clicking through the T.V channels to find something to watch so that she could relax. She was debating on what to order from dinner tonight. Rachel's thoughts were cut off when her doorbell rang through the house. Rachel sighed and got up, she ran her fingers through her hair and she made her way to the door. Rachel hoped that Finn was not on the other side as she could not deal with him again in hope that they would get back together.<p>

She opened the door to see a smirking Noah, standing on her porch holding a black plastic bag in one of his hands.

"Noah, what brings you here?" Rachel asked, sighing in relief that it wasn't Finn.

"Hey Jew-babe, I thought I'll come by and see how you were doing and get some answers about what went down today in glee?" Noah smiled at the girl.

"Well as you can see, I'm doing quite well." Rachel replied, stepping aside to allow Noah into the house. Once inside she closed the door behind him.

"Are your dads home?" Noah asked before he made in further in to the house.

Rachel snorted loudly, "When are they ever home, Noah?" Rachel said sadly.

"True, well in that case I brought beer." Noah replied with a smile on his face, holding up the black bag.

"Excellent, I was about to order something for dinner, do you want some?" Rachel asked as they both walked through the house to the lounge.

"Would love too, pizza?" Noah replied.

Rachel nodded her head and grabbed the house phone and ordered them some pizza before sitting on the couch in the lounge. Noah and Rachel had been friends for years; they knew everything about each other and always had each other's back even if they didn't show it at school. Noah was one of the select few that knew Rachel was gay and tried his best to protect her even if it meant throwing a slushy in her face at school. Noah himself was an actor. Puck was his character that he portrayed at school and around his friends that weren't Rachel or his family.

"Can you explain what happened to you today, cause one minute you where school diva Rachel then the next, you were the real you? You have never showed the real you at school before." Noah asked as he gave Rachel a beer to drink.

Rachel sighed before taking a sip of beer that Noah had handed to her before she answered him, "I guess I got sick and tired of everything. I was tired of being abused by everyone in that club. I know that it's my other personality that people are abusing but doesn't mean that it doesn't still hurt, when people say hurtful things to me. I was just tired of being who I am and lying to myself. I don't want to everyone's doormat any longer."

"Well I think after today there will be a few people who might be cautious to be around you after you punched Finn in the face. Let's not forget you swearing at him and putting him down with your words," Noah chuckled as he told her.

"The asshole got what he deserved for man-handling me and I don't really care about anyone else or how they feel about me." Rachel gritted out through her teeth.

"Yeah, well, you did do a good number on him; you broke his nose and gave a split lip in the process." Noah laughed out.

"Good," Rachel giggled.

"So, is Star going to be gracing the halls of McKinley from now on?" Noah asked, wanting to know if today was just a one off, or would it continue?

"Of course, Noah. It's about time that the real Rachel Berry made an appearance." Rachel giggled.

"Well, I've got your back from now on." Noah said.

"What do you mean, Noah?" Rachel asked as she looked at him.

Noah sighed and ran his hand through his Mohawk and then he looked Rachel, "What I mean, Rae, is that I'm going to be by your side all the way. I don't care what people think of our friendship. I can no longer pretend that we aren't friends. I want the world to know that Rachel Berry is my best friend." Noah said, smiling at his longtime best friend.

"Noah, you're growing up." Rachel giggled at him, "Do you truly mean that?"

"Of course I am, Star." Noah softly said.

"People aren't going to like it especially Finn, he's going to think that we are together or something." Rachel replied.

"Well, fuck him, he doesn't need to know, plus it would be fun to mess with his head." Noah laughed.

"I don't need another beard." Rachel huffed out.

"You don't need one, Rae. I know that you don't want to come out yet but that doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun, even if everyone thinks that we are dating." Noah told her.

"Okay, but we are going to have to be careful though. I really don't want any more drama," Rachel sighed.

"We will be fine, trust me." Noah replied as he watched Rachel raise her eyebrow at him and just nodded her head in reply.

"Have you heard from Finn since the incident?" Noah asked before drinking some of his beer.

"No, I haven't. I turned my phone off when I got home, why?"

"Because when I was taking him to the nurses to get his nose checked, he kept mumbling that he didn't understand what had just happened or why you would punch him and shit like that. I guess that he was planning to ring you tonight after you had a chance to cool off to ask you these things."

"He can try, but I'm not going to talk to him. I know, tomorrow that he will probably demand some answers from me and hope to get back together."

"Yeah, I can see him doing that. He's going to be a pain tomorrow." Noah sighed.

"Probably."

"What will you tell him?"

Rachel snorted, "Well I can't tell him the truth, now, can I? I would possibly tell him that I don't love him, like he loves me, and that we don't belong together. I know he thinks that we have broken up because he lied about sleeping with Santana, but really, I don't care about it. Did you know about them?"

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't know that he lied to you about it. I just assumed that you already knew about it. That is why I never brought it up. I am truly sorry that I didn't tell you, and had to find out the truth the way you did today." Noah said, looking guilty.

"You don't need to apologize for anything, Noah. It's not your fault that it happened." Rachel said, hoping that it may erase some of his guilt.

"Thanks, Rae." Noah replied.

"Do you know why Santana told me today and not some other time" Rachel asked, curious to know what he thought.

"Who knows what goes on in that girl's mind, she probably did it so she could make a play for Finn, herself," Noah said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"That is what I presumed. She is welcomed to have him. I don't really care." Rachel laughed.

"Good for you," Noah said, joining in on Rachel's laugher.

Rachel and Noah continued in mindless chatter and drinking the beers that Noah had brought with him until the pizza arrived, then they settled down to watch a movie together before Noah had to go home for the night. Rachel was feeling lighter by the time she went to bed. She was grateful that she ended her relationship with Finn and could move on with her future. She couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would bring.

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><p><strong>AN: well there you go; the first chapter from this new story. Please review and let me know what you thought about it so far. <strong>

**Let me know which of the Unholy Trinity you think should be paired with Rachel. Just remember the other two will be paired with each other in the end.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Some dialogue is from the show, (episode 9) but I have had my own twist to it to make it fix into my story, like I did for chapter one and will more likely continue for future chapters. **

**Thanks for all the reviews that I received for the first chapter of this story they all mean a lot me. So please keep them coming. I have three different versions of this story planned out. Each story has Rachel paired with one of the Unholy Trinity, I've been going through them to see which one would make the story flow better also counting your votes as well. I'm going to keep the votes open for a bit longer, maybe for two or three more chapters then I'll go from there.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters they are all owned by FOX. Or the songs that are mention.**

**This Chapter was beta'd by Wheelie91. Thank you for your hard work.**

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><p><em>This was edited 1202/14_

Chapter two:

The following day, almost everyone had gathered around close together, except Finn, who was currently sitting away from the others in the choir room, the only people that were missing were Puck and Rachel, and Mr. Schue had yet to arrive. The others wanted to talk about what went down yesterday but they were unsure how Finn would react to hearing them talk about it. It became common knowledge that Rachel had punched and broken up with Finn when he arrived at school that morning with his nose taped up and bruised and his split lip. Some of the jocks had thought that it was hilarious that Finn got punched by a girl; a petite girl at that. They were giving him a hard time about it but some had told Finn that he was better off without her anyway and now he would be able to find someone else better and wasn't the biggest loser at the school.

Finn didn't want that, he wanted to be with Rachel. He just considered that Rachel was saddened that he had lied about sleeping with Santana and probably just needed some time to process everything and to be able to clear her head. He just needed a plan that would ensure that Rachel would forgive and give him another chance.

"Where's Puck? I haven't seen him since yesterday and I need him to get me a churro." Santana inquired the room and as Mr Schue walked into the room carrying his folder and made his way to the piano.

"My guess is he'd rather quit Glee Club than lose Sectionals and I can't blame him. Our set's gon' be real light on the Mercedes," Mercedes replied, whining to the group.

"I did see him earlier today but I'm not sure where he is now?" Mike replied before anyone else could.

"I'm telling you, if the Warblers win Sectionals, it's only because we gave them Kurt. We should not clap," Tina said sadly, following Mercedes comment.

"If we lose, we should throw possums." Brittany blurted out as everyone turned to stare at her.

"Yeah, but the bigger question is; where's the hobbit? It's not like her to miss school," Santana asked, looking at Finn. "She really did do a number on you, didn't she?" Santana giggled, "Looks like she broke your nose."

"Wait, what?" Mr Schue said as he turned around and looked at Finn for the first time today and he could clearly see that someone had in fact punched and break Finn's nose. "Rachel broke your nose, why?" he asked, clearly stunned by the information and the proof.

"Yeah she did, I think that she was angry about what Santana had said yesterday," Finn muttered, not happy that he had to tell his favorite teacher that a girl had hit him.

"It doesn't matter if she was angry, that's no excuse to resort to violence," Mr. Schue said, trying to comfort his favorite student.

"Hold up, Mr Schue. That isn't exactly the truth," Santana butted in.

"Yeah, Santana's right. Rachel only punched Finn because he was basically manhandling her and refused to let her go after she had asked him twice to let go of her wrist. So, as I see it, she had every right to punch him." Tina said as she was upset that Finn didn't tell Mr. Schue the whole truth and it was clear that Finn believed that he only got punched in the face because he had lied.

"That may be true but she didn't need to punch him but Finn, what you did was wrong as well, you don't do those types of things to women, okay. When they ask you to let them go, you do so immediately." Mr Schue said, he knew that Finn was in the wrong and need to know what he did was wrong. Finn was lucky that he only got punched, it could have gone a lot worse for the boy. Finn had nodded his in reply but before he could voice it, another voice beat him to it.

"Dude, where have you been?" Artie asked Puck as he had just walked in, looking disheveled and he was accompanied by Lauren Zizes.

"I found him in a porta potty." Lauren replied, looking at everyone in the room, her eyes landed on a bewildered Santana.

"I was trying to find Kurt's replacement for Sectionals. So I tried talking to the football guys this morning. That didn't go well; they grabbed me and locked me in the porta potty, which they tipped over. I was trapped in there until Lauren here found me and helped me out," Puck said, "So I asked her if she wanted to join."

"That he did but he had to meet my conditions first which where a carton of Cadbury eggs, even though they're not in season, and I wanted seven minutes in heaven, with him." Lauren said looking at the appalled faces, which were all looking at Puck.

"I have to say, she kind of rocked my world." Puck said, looking at everyone's disgusted and confused looks.

"Okay guys, um, well, looks like we're back in business. Let's all welcome our newest member, Ms. Lauren Zizes!" Mr Schue said as he clapped his hands and the rest of the glee club followed his lead.

"Puck, nice work," Mr Schue said, shaking Puck's hand, "We owe you one."

"Alright, you two take a seat and we will get started." Mr Schue said as he addressed the class.

"Holy shit," Santana gasped out, looking towards the door.

"Hot damn," Mercedes said.

"Rachel?" Finn gasped out as everyone was now looking towards the door where Rachel had walked in wearing clothes that no one in the room except for Puck had never seen her in before let alone own unless it was for performing.

Rachel was wear dark blue, skinny jeans that hugged to her curves along with her star buckle belt, with knee high boots. She had a silver vest on that was skin tight as well and showed off some of flat, toned stomach, topped it off a black, sexy female motorbike leather jacket. Her hair was done in lose curls at the ends and was wearing black sunglass across her eyes. She had worn something like this not long ago when the girls did a performance for glee.

"Sorry I'm late, Schue." Rachel said as she walked further into the room.

Before Mr. Schue could reply, Finn blurted out, "Rachel, what are you wearing?"

"My clothes?" Rachel answered as she looked at Finn confused to why he would ask that.

"Those aren't you're normal clothes." Finn answered confusedly.

"Oh, really. Have you been in my wardrobe lately that I don't know about?" Rachel asked mockingly.

"Umm, no?" Finn muttered baffled by the question.

"Then how do you know that these aren't my clothes?" Rachel asked politely, she could see from the corner of her eye that everyone in the room was watching the conversation with great interest. They all looked like that they wanted to know the answers to Rachel's wardrobe change.

"Cause you normally were those animal sweaters with skirts and knee high socks. You never wear these types of clothes unless it's a costume for a glee number. You don't even wear anything like this when we go out?" Finn replied confidently, happy with his answer.

"Well it is now clear to you, that I do in fact own other clothing, so it would be best that you don't make assumptions," Rachel replied with a small smile.

"It's about bloody time that you started breaking in the clothes from your second wardrobe, Rae, cause seriously, you're looking all kinds of hot." Noah called out before Finn could answer Rachel. He was extremely happy to see the real Rachel in the choir room instead of the Rachel that everyone else has come to known over the years. _'Rae'_ everyone thought, _'since when did Puck called Rachel 'Rae?''_

Rachel just giggled, "Thanks Noah. I thought, it was about time that I started wearing my real clothes and not 'my school clothes'," Rachel quoted with her hands towards the end.

"Well, it took you long enough," Noah laughed in reply, everyone's attention had switched and they were all focused on Rachel's and Pucks interaction. It seemed that Puck and Rachel knew each other better than they had let on because it seemed that Puck already knew about Rachel's wardrobe before anyone else did. They were all thinking the same questions; what was Rachel's and Puck true relationship? How well did they know each other? How long had it been going on for? Was Rachel cheating on Finn with Puck? Were they friends? Were they having sex? They were all very confused but they were hoping that they could get some answers. This was big news.

"Yeah, it has taken a while," Rachel replied, before taking in Noah's appearance, "What the hell happened to you?" Rachel asked in a concerned tone.

"The football guys locked me in a porta potty this morning, so I was stuck in there and it didn't help that I've lost my phone." Noah replied.

"I would love to call those guys a word but I can't with present company," Rachel giggled, "And speaking of phones," Rachel said, pulling out a phone from her pocket, "I believe this is yours," as she handed his phone over to him.

"Thanks Star, where was it?" Noah smiled as he looked at his phone. _'Another nickname?'_ everyone thought at the same time._ 'What the hell is going on?' _Why did Rachel have Puck's phone?

"It was on my couch this morning. I believe it fell out of your pocket last night when you took over my couch." Rachel answered with a chuckle.

'_What was Puck doing at Rachel's last night?' _everyone thought at the same time.

"Yeah, it must have. Thanks for returning it to me." Noah replied.

"I'm just grateful that I didn't find anything else in or on my couch," Rachel giggled.

Noah groaned, "You're never going to let that go are you? It happened one time."

"Well it was something I never wished to find in the couch, even if it only happened once." Rachel comment as she smirked at the boy.

"What the hell? Rachel, did you break up with me to be with him?!" Finn yelled out, jumping out of his seat. Everyone could see that Finn was furious; they were not surprised that he was angry and had asked that, they too wanted to know if that was why Rachel broke up with Finn. He didn't like the fact that Puck was at Rachel's last night and that they seemed to be getting on really well.

"Umm, No." Rachel replied, crossing her arms and looked at the boy in question.

"Then, why was he at your house last night? I know you are mad at me but that doesn't mean you had to run into his arms to get back at me!" Finn yelled as he pointed at Puck.

"Really, is that what you think? That I had Noah over just to get back at you." Rachel replied calmly. _'Of course he would think that. The complete moron' _she thought.

"Yes, it's the only reason for him to be over," Finn said angrily.

Rachel couldn't take it anymore, and began to laugh at him. Of course Finn would jump to that conclusion, it really didn't surprise her. He didn't think that they could be friends. It was like that he didn't even know her, which was true. Everyone was oddly surprised that Rachel would start laughing at Finn. They were not used to this other side of Rachel and it somewhat puzzled them even more.

"Would you stop laughing at me?" Finn shouted, "I demand to know what is going on?"

"Finn, you need to calm down," Mr. Schue said, walking up to him in order to try and calm him down. Mr Schue couldn't afford to have any drama in his class so close to competition.

"NO! I want to know what's going on." Finn demanded.

Rachel could see by now that Finn was at his breaking point and things could get ugly if he wasn't dealt with soon.

"Oh, calm down before you take your anger out on the innocent chairs, they don't need to be abused by an idiotic moron such as yourself." Rachel calmly said and a few of the glee snickered, including Noah. "Also you don't get to demand anything from me."

"I am calm!" Finn spat out.

"Oh yeah, I can see how calm you are." Rachel replied sarcastically.

"What is going on with you?" Finn asked desperately.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Rachel giggled through her reply, Noah joined in on the giggling.

"Mr Schue, maybe we should practice as we have Sectionals coming up." Rachel said as she started to make her way over to the seats away from Finn on the top riser. Puck and Lauren followed suit. She sat down with Puck on the right side of her and Lauren sat on the other side of Puck. Rachel proceeded to pull out her notebook and started writing in it.

"Rachel, this isn't over. I want to know what is going on with you." Finn demanded as he sat down back in his chair.

"Yeah whatever, I'll try to pencil you in." Rachel deadpanned, not looking up from her notebook. Noah let out a light chuckle.

"Alright guys, let's start practicing," Mr Schue said cheerfully.

Everyone was curious to know what the hell was going on between Rachel and Noah. Most of them struggled to pay attention throughout practice as their focus was on something more fascinating. They watched as Noah would lean in and whisper something in Rachel's ear that would cause her to giggle ever so quietly or communicated silently back. It seemed that they were in their own personal bubble and no one was permitted access.

Finn slumped further into his chair as continued to watch Rachel and Noah. He wasn't at all pleased with how the two interacted with each other. He believed that this was Rachel's way of getting back at him for lying about sleeping with Santana. He knew that this was her way of hurting him, especially after what happened last year between Noah and Quinn, Rachel knew how much that had hurt him. He watched as Noah leaned into Rachel almost touching her, and making her giggle. Finn would glare at Puck every time that they looked at each other, Puck didn't take Finn's glares personally, instead he would shrug his shoulders and smirked and went back to what he was doing. Not once did Rachel look up from her notebook as practice continued. Finn had hope that she would look up so he could catch her eyes but Finn wasn't that lucky.

Rachel knew that Finn had kept looking at her through the practice as Noah would whisper in her ear pretty much every time that he did. She could feel the eyes of her fellow team members on her for most of the time, it had started to make Rachel very uncomfortable and it made her feel like that they were analyzing her. Rachel had already reached to the conclusion that once glee ended today, she was going to be bombarded with questions not only from Finn but the other members of the New Directions. She had prepared herself for it and could almost predict what most of the questions were; Why the change in attitude and clothing? Why did she break up with Finn, if it wasn't because he lied? Was she dating Noah now?

Rachel knew that almost everyone would believe that this was her way of making more drama and that this was her way of making sure she hurt Finn in the process but quite frankly, she just didn't care if that was what people thought of her. Rachel struggled being in relationship with him and that she had to pretend that she was in love with him. Yuck! Before she started high school, she had come to terms of her sexuality but with being bullied through the years, which only continued at McKinley, she thought it was best that she had made everyone believe that she was straight. That was why she wore her mask and acted the way she did at school to hide her true self. When Finn joined glee last year, he was the perfect candidate to help play the part of the boyfriend even if he didn't know about it.

Rachel had learnt to be careful at school to make sure that no one could work out that she was gay. So far she couldn't believe no one else at worked out that she wasn't straight, she positive that she would left some clues along the way, but no one had questioned her about it yet. Rachel was pulled out of her thoughts by someone calling her name; she looked up from her notebook to see Lauren was trying to talk to her.

"Sorry Lauren, What's up?" Rachel asked and could see from the corner of eyes that the others had slightly turned in their seats in hope that they could hear the conversation without of being oblivious.

"Are you guys together?" Lauren asked. _'Of course that would be the first question anyone would ask,' _Rachel mentally sighed

"Me and Noah? No, we aren't together." Rachel replied, hopefully that would stop everyone else in the room asking that ridiculous question. Puck, beside them both, nodded his head to back up Rachel's answer.

"Good to know." Lauren replied as she looked back at Puck for a few seconds then went back to looking at Rachel, "So Berry, what's going on with you?"

"Not a lot really." Rachel replied in a bored tone.

"Well something is definitely up." Lauren replied curiously.

"I can tell you without doubt what's not up, is Finn's matchstick size penis." Rachel said in casual bored tone. Noah and Lauren both giggled at her reply along with a few other members of glee.

Rachel looked over and could see that Finn was murderous but Rachel knew he couldn't do anything in class while Mr Schue was in the classroom.

"See that is what I'm talking about." Lauren said after she was done finished giggling.

Rachel just looked back at Lauren and shrugged her shoulders and went back to her notebook.

"She's going to be a bit vague on her answers," Puck commented as Rachel let out a small chuckle.

"Oh, do you know what's going on?" Lauren asked, hopeful the boy might know some answers.

"Not really." Noah replied quickly. Noah did indeed know what was going on with Rachel but they weren't his answers to give.

"Oh, okay," Lauren replied.

"Alright guys, good practice. See you all tomorrow" Mr Schue said and packed all his things and left the room.

Rachel made no movement to pack her things and leave the room. There wasn't much movement around the room at all. It seemed that everyone decided to delay leaving in the room, certain to see drama that would displayed in the choir room.

"Hey Rae, you up for a game tonight?" Puck asked as Rachel had, in the end, decided to pack her things up, everyone turned in their seats to look at them and the same time listen to their conversation.

"What kind of game?" Rachel replied back, curious to know what type of game Noah was talking about.

"I was thinking pool. We are overdue for that rematch." Puck smirked, hoping that she would agree. He was still pissed off that Rachel kicked ass the last time they played.

"You still kind of pissed that you had your ass handed to me in the last game?" Rachel giggled.

"Hell yeah, I am. So rematch?" Puck asked again, hopeful she would say yes.

"Yeah, why not?" Rachel replied back but then a dark smirk graced her lips, "But let's makes it more interesting."

Puck gulped audibly as he saw the smirk formed on Rachel's lips.

"NO! I won't allow you to spend time with him, Rachel." Finn yelled, getting up from his chair.

"Why the hell not, Finn?" Rachel inquired as she turned to face him. Everyone sat up straighter in their chairs as they watched the scene before them.

"Because you are my girlfriend and I forbid you to be around him," Finn spat out.

Rachel chuckled sarcastically "Funny, here I thought I broke up with you yesterday, making me no longer your girlfriend. You have no right to tell me who I can and can't see."

"No, you were just upset with me when you said that. You just needed some time to think that is all." Finn replied.

"No, actually I wasn't upset or even mad at you when I decided to break up with you." Rachel said before bending over to pick up her bag then proceeded to stand up.

"No, I believe that we aren't over. You are just doing this to hurt me." Finn whined out.

"Do you truly believe that?" Rachel asked him calmly.

"Of course I do. Why else would you be hanging around Puck for?" Finn spat out furiously.

"Nice of you to think so lowly of me," Rachel said sadly, shaking her head, "Could it be possible that Noah and I are just friends?"

"No, there is no way you two are friends." Finn said angrily, clenching his fists. "You don't have any friends."

Silence filled the room after Finn said that. The members of the New Directions were all dumbfounded that Finn would say that to Rachel although it's essentially true. Rachel had no friends at McKinley only Finn but after the way Puck and Rachel behaved around each other during practice, maybe they had it wrong; it was possible that Puck and Rachel were friends. If that is correct then why hide it from them?

Rachel looked at Finn sadly; she couldn't believe that he would say something to her face. She knew that Finn wasn't happy with her at the moment but that didn't excuse him from talking to her the way that he was. Puck was standing next to Rachel; he could see that Finn's words had hurt Rachel, even if she was trying her best not to show it.

"Really, Finn. Was that your way of trying to hurt me? Because let me tell you, it didn't" Rachel said calmly, yes Finn's words had hurt her but she knew in her heart that he didn't mean it, well she hoped that was the case.

"N-no, I didn't mean it." Finn muttered, bowing his head down in shame. "I just want you to answer me and tell me why you broke up with me if it wasn't over the fact that I lied to you about sleeping with Santana, because I believe that is the only reason you would break up with me."

"Does it always have to come back to that? I don't give a flying fuck if you and Santana were desperate enough to fuck each other, that's your business not mine." Rachel said, raising her voice a bit.

"Stubbles, you just did not call me desperate?" Santana screeched out.

"Sit your ass down, Satan." Rachel turned and looked at the Latina cheerleader.

"Don't fucking talk to me like that, Hobbit?!" Santana shouted as she jumped up from her chair as Brittany and Quinn followed suit.

"I'll talk to you anyway I like." Rachel smirked at her as she could see that Brittany had wrapped her arms around Santana's waist in order to stop her from trying to get the jump on Rachel.

"Bitch, I'm gonna kick the shit out of you for calling me desperate." Santana hissed as she struggled against Brittany's and now Quinn's hold.

Rachel could see that Brittany was trying to calm Santana down with her calm words. Rachel wasn't scared she knew that Santana wouldn't be able to touch her before Rachel got her first.

"You ain't gonna do shit, Santana, and it would be wise to listen to Brittany and sit the fuck down." Rachel sneered at the girl.

"Don't tell me what to do." Santana hissed out as she continued to struggle.

"Whatever. Look, I have better things to do then do this shit. Finn," Rachel said calmly and turned back to her fake ex-boyfriend, "We are done, and we aren't together anymore, so move on. Who knows, maybe Santana will give you another shot." Rachel walked down and stood almost in front of Finn.

"Watch yourself, Hobbit!" Santana shouted.

"Oh please, Santana, shut that trap of yours, I'm sick of hearing you bitch." Rachel said, taking a quick look at her. The members of the New Directions were completely shunned by the way Rachel had spoken to Santana. It's not often that Rachel would stand up for herself and say those things.

"Rachel, you can't do this. You need me." Finn whined out before taking a step forward but Rachel sidestepped him and moved herself closer to the door.

"I can and I have. I don't need you Finn, I don't need anyone." Rachel said, looking at the boy; she could see the different emotions that flick over this face, angry, sad, disappointment and confusion.

"Rachel, please don't do this," Finn cried out.

"It's for the best," Rachel told him, she looked over him and could see everyone was still speechless to the scene that was unfolding before them. Brittany had managed to get Santana back in her chair but was glaring furiously at Rachel and knew that Santana wouldn't let what happened go.

"This isn't over, I won't allow it" Finn said angrily.

"Whatever, Finn," Rachel said and walked out the door without looking back. Rachel knew that both Santana and Finn would confront her soon as they won't leave it alone. Rachel was more prepared to deal with Santana more than Finn. Rachel knew that Finn would do anything to get back together.

"You stay away from her. Do you hear me? If you still want to continue to be my friend, you will stay away from Rachel." Finn demanded to Puck.

"You don't tell me what do Hudson." Puck said as he too made his way to the door.

"I'm warning you, Rachel is mine." Finn hissed at him.

Puck whipped around and glared murderously at Finn. "Rachel does not belong to you or to anyone else for that matter. Do you hear me, Hudson? She is her own person and free to do what she wants."

"Whatever is going on between you and her won't last long; she'll come crawling back to me like she always does." Finn confidently said.

"I wouldn't count on that. Rachel's done with your ass, sooner you get that through your thick skull, the sooner you can move on." Puck said.

"You don't know that, Rachel and I belong together," Finn replied "Just stay away from her."

"No I won't stay away, which means you and I are no longer friends." Puck said, smiling at Finn.

"Fine then, we are no longer friends but I will get Rachel back." Finn shouted as he stormed passed Puck and headed out the door. Finn hoped that he might be able to find Rachel before she left and try and change her mind.

Puck just stood there as he watched his ex-best friend leave the room. Puck was happy that he stood up to him and told everyone in the room that he would rather be Rachel's friend then his and he couldn't be happier about it.

"I'm going to get that little bitch. How dare she?" Santana sneered out loudly to the room; she turned her attention to Puck, "I can't believe you want to be friends with the Hobbit?"

"Watch yourself, Lopez. Don't you dare call her those cruel nicknames anymore, she does have a name." Puck growled at the Latina cheerleader.

"I'll call her whatever I like." Santana hissed out as she tried to get back up again only to be stopped by Brittany and Quinn.

"How can you stand up for her? You hate her as much as we do." Quinn huffed out, trying to keep hold of Santana.

Puck laughed at them before answering, "No, I don't hate her. I've known her for years and she's my best friend." Everyone gasped out by the information, no one knew how to react, even Santana stopped struggling, "Yeah, that's right; Rachel Berry is my best friend and I don't care who knows. A word to the wise, I would stay away from her, you don't want to mess with her, and you have no idea what she is capable of doing. She will make what she did to Finn yesterday seem like a walk in the park. Best thing to do is stay on her good side. What you all have been witness to so far is just the beginning." Puck said as he looked at all his team members.

"Please, as if that scares me. I'll teach her a lesson for insulting me." Santana growled out in reply.

Puck just chuckled, "Don't say I didn't warn you, so good luck with that, Lopez."

"She's a ranting diva." Santana scoffed.

"Your head then. Come on Lauren, let's go, I don't think they are going to believe me." Puck said and walked out the door with Lauren next to him.

The other members of the New Directions continued to sit there as they watched Puck and Lauren leave the room together. Each of them was finding it hard to process all the information that they have received in today's lesson. Most of them were completely confused and didn't know what to make of the different Rachel and that she was Puck's best friend. It didn't answer all their questions instead in created new ones making their list of questions longer.

"Can I let you go now, if you promise to stay calm?" Brittany asked Santana quietly and calmly.

"Yeah, I'll stay calm." Santana muttered, still very furious.

"Good." Brittany replied and she and Quinn let go of their grip on the Latina.

"I'm going to get her back from what she said. No one says that to me." Santana growled.

"You can't Sani, you should listen to Puck. It seems that he knows her more than we thought." Brittany said, trying to calm her friend and get her to change her mind about getting revenge.

"NO! I won't let it go." Santana growled.

"No you can't, we don't know what Rachel can do." Brittany said.

"I can't let her get away with calling me desperate." Santana said, furious that Rachel had called her desperate.

"You can and you must. She insulted you once but how many times have you insulted her? Just let it go." Brittany told her.

"Fine, I'll let it go for now, but if she does it again, she'll pay." Santana huffed, out agreeing with her friend in the end.

"I'm glad to hear that, Sanny." Brittany replied, patting Santana's arm.

"Well it looks like that she didn't go back to her normal self after yesterday." Tina chimed in after Santana had calmed a bit and didn't want to go after Rachel for retaliation.

"Yeah, I'll say. I can't believe that Puck said that he's been friends with her for years; I mean why he didn't say anything earlier?" Mercedes said.

"Yeah, that is what I can't understand as well." Artie said, confused to why neither of them mention it early or acted like they were friends earlier.

"Maybe he was ashamed to tell anyone that he was friends with her." Sam answered, looking at Quinn and scratched the back of his head.

"That's probably true, but that doesn't explain why the sudden change of heart over-night?" Quinn asked.

"Don't know, maybe Rachel spoke to him or maybe she is blackmailing him, or even offered him something in return." Mercedes said.

"I don't think that is something Rachel would do." Tina replied, trying to defend Rachel. Tina didn't believe that Rachel would do any of those things.

"Do you remember that she sent Sunshine to a crack house?" Mercedes scoffed smugly.

"Of course I do. I think everyone here remembers her doing that. She only did that because she felt threated by her voice. I don't think she would do that to Puck." Tina said.

"Then let's not forget what she did last year by chasing after Finn and telling him that Puck was the father and not him." Quinn scoffed, crossing her arms with a few people nodding their heads as they agreed with what Quinn had said.

"Okay, so Rachel has done some questionable things, but doesn't mean she's doing it now." Mike replied as he believed what Tina was saying. He believed that Rachel and Puck's friendship was real and there was no deceit.

"That may be true, but how should we find out?" Mercedes asked the group. She was excited about getting some new juicy gossip.

"Nothing, we should leave it. If they want to tell us, they will in their own time." Artie voiced, he was taking in Puck's warning to heart. Artie didn't want to get involved.

"Fuck that, I want to know what is going on between them." Santana said and with that she got up from her chair and walked down the risers and stormed over to the door, "I want answers and maybe some payback!" She called out as she stormed out of the room.

"I better go and make sure she doesn't do anything that would get her suspended from school." Quinn sighed as she made to follow her friend.

"I should follow her too. Who knows what Santana will do?" Brittany replied and followed Quinn. She didn't want Santana to get into trouble; she still deeply cared for Santana.

"Well things didn't go to normal today instead it has created more drama." Tina said after the three Cheerios had left the room.

"Yeah, but I'm sure things will return to normal soon." Mercedes said, trying to sound convincing but she no longer believed her owns words from yesterday.

"I hope so, but with Puck's warning; I no longer believe that the old Rachel will return." Artie said as he wheeled himself to the door, so he could go find his girlfriend.

The others all agreed with Artie's words as they watched him depart. Only time will tell, if things will go back to normal, or this new Rachel was here to stay. All of them wondered as they too left the choir room was what else was to come?

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><p>Rachel left the choir and made her way to the auditorium and hid herself away, so that she could be away from everyone else and that no one would be able to find her. Rachel was exhausted from having to fight with Finn in the choir room. Finn was never going to let her go and try to move on. Rachel sighed and buried her face in her hands and she tried to calm herself down. Rachel wanted to punch Finn's lights out for the words that came out of his mouth. She couldn't believe the way he was treating her and the comments he made. It saddened her that he didn't believe that Noah and her were friends.<p>

As she continued to rest where she was hidden, she could hear people coming in and out of the auditorium and she considered that it was probably Finn and possibly Santana looking for her. She wouldn't be surprised if Santana was looking for her, to finish what was started in the choir room. Finn was undoubtedly planning a way to get Rachel back and perhaps he would try and find a way to end her friendship with Noah, and that was one of the many reasons that they kept their friendship a secret until today.

Rachel waited in the hide out for a bit more until she was certain that everyone had left by now and that she wouldn't be disturb. She wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone else and the present time. Rachel walked over to the piano that was in the middle of stage and sat down. Rachel glided her fingers along the keys. Rachel had always loved playing the piano and was proud of herself that she could play it so well. Apart from Noah and her family, no one knew that she could play the instrument, let alone others. Noah had taken the time to teach Rachel how to play the guitar and now she was just as good as him at playing it. Rachel was positive that Noah would attempt to get her into playing in glee, but why should she? They all hate her. Why should she share things about her? They are all jealous about her voice, why should she give them more ammunition for them to hate her more. She groaned in frustration and buried her head in her hands again.

"Rachel?" a voice said from back stage, Rachel groaned _'Of course, someone would find me eventually.' _She thought to herself.

Rachel looked up and could see that Kurt had entered from the back stage and walked up to the piano. He was in his full Dalton Academy uniform with his bag strap over his shoulder.

"Hey Rachel," he repeated, "I've been looking for you." He eyed Rachel's attire, "What are you wearing? Was this for a glee performance?" he asked.

"No, these are my own clothes, Kurt." Rachel scoffed, "Look, if you are here to spy on us, to get a leg up, you're going to have look somewhere else. I'm not doing the solo."

"Well they look good on you. I'm happy to see that you've changed your wardrobe." Kurt comment as Rachel rolled her eyes at him, "Anyway, I'm actually was hoping that you might help me. I've been sitting in my car for over an hour waiting for Karofsky to make a Mickie D's run. I've been invited to audition for a solo."

Rachel sighed as she looked at him, "Why should I help you, I mean you're our competition now, and we are most certainly aren't friends?"

"True, but even though we hate each other, we've had our moments. And I could use your expertise. And no one knows how to kill a ballad quite like you. You are as brilliant and talented as you are irritating." Kurt replied truthfully.

Rachel chuckled at his answer, it was true that they may have hated each other but they had had their moments, "Well, considering it might be a little while till I sing again, I'll give you a couple tips. So what did you have in mind?" Rachel replied, being her true self and the glee Rachel that everyone knew at the same time. She thought it was best to still act like her mask especially around Kurt as she couldn't trust him yet. Rachel stood up from the piano.

"I've settled on Celine Dion's classic, _My Heart Will Go On._" Kurt replied as he set down a white stereo on the piano.

"Oh no, no no no," Rachel replied panicking slightly as she put the diva mask on, she needed to act like her old self in front of Kurt.

"No?" Kurt asked, concerned that he had chosen the wrong song.

"Listen, you need something much more personal than that. I mean, this is about you." Rachel said as she walked up to him. "There are plenty of songs that are personal to me and I'm sure there are for you. You just have to find the one that holds the most meaning to you so are able to express your feelings to that song." She walked around the piano and looked at the CD player.

"This is one of the songs that are personal to me," Rachel said as she took a quick glance at Kurt then pressed play on the player.

Kurt watched from piano as Rachel took centre stage and started to sing '_Don't Cry for Me Argentina'. _Rachel was happy that she could help Kurt and at the same time sing a song that held a lot of meaning to her. At least for now she was free from the drama that still loomed in the shadows.

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><p><strong>AN: well there you go; the second chapter for this story. As you all saw I add the Kurt and Rachel scene from the show, although they were probably set on different days in the show but I add my own twist to it. I didn't want to follow the whole scene between them as the Rachel in my story is different, so I didn't want to write in her talking about her fantasizing her own funeral, but put it this way she was probably thinking about it when she sang the song. I felt that this scene was important, it was the start of their friendship in the show and in this story they have their friendship as well but I will make mine probably stronger than the show did. <strong>

**Let me know what you all think. Should be next update next week. **

**Bringing Hell Down will hopefully be updated next week as well.**


	3. Chapter 3

**The pairings are now final. Rachel/Quinn and Brittany/Santana. I know some of you were hoping that Santana or Brittany to be paired with Rachel but I felt that Quinn was the best option but no fear; I have story other ideas for the other two to be paired with Rachel.**

**Thank you for all the reviews, they mean a lot to me and I'm sorry that I haven't updated earlier, have been busy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters they are all owned by FOX. Or the songs that are mention.**

**Warning: swearing, some bashing and some violence. **

**This Chapter was beta'd by Wheelie91. Thank you for your hard work.**

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><p><em>Edited 1202/14_

Chapter Three:

Rachel spent the previous afternoon helping Kurt for his solo that he was performing for the Warblers. Rachel was surprised that Kurt had come to her for help. It was nice that they were able to put aside their difference, even if it was only for a few hours. Noah, in the end, didn't turn up at hers last night, all he told her that something had come up and that they should get together another time. Rachel wasn't shocked that he didn't turn up, he was probably trying to get with Lauren again, knowing him.

Rachel walked down the halls of McKinley high and she could feel eyes her as she made her way to her locker. The student body was now aware of the break up between Rachel and Finn. They were all curious to know why she would break up with the quarterback and in the process break his nose. They assumed that Rachel was deeply in love with the boy, but not only that, why the sudden change in clothing? There was a new rumor that Puck and Rachel were friends and that he made it known yesterday in glee, of course that spread like wild fire.

As Rachel reached her locker, she could still feel eyes on her and she was able to hear the whispers that followed her since she arrived at school this morning. Rachel opened her locker and grabbed the books that she would need for the morning. Just as she was about to close her locker, she felt someone come up to her.

"Hello, Ms Berry," the voice said next to her. Rachel cringed at recognizing the voice immediately. She felt sick at his voice and was not the mood to deal with his presence so early in the morning. She sighed to herself and turned to face him.

"Jacob. What do you want?" Rachel said, glaring at the boy in question. She cringed when she saw his beady eyes ogled at her and roamed his eyes over her body. His eyes finally stop at her cleavage. Rachel was disgusted at his behavior; she crossed her arms across her chest in order to stop him staring at her chest. Rachel could see that he had his microphone in his hand. Jacob Ben Israel was the biggest pain in the ass and the biggest creep she had ever come across.

Jacob held up the microphone and moved it closer to Rachel, "Rumor has it that you have broken up with one Finn Hudson, care to comment?"

"I believe you don't need me to answer that, I'm confident that Finn confirmed the so called rumor." Rachel glared at the boy. She really didn't want him near her, he made her skin crawl.

"That may be true, but I would like to hear from you and I am sure that so would the rest of the school," Jacob smiled at her.

Rachel recoiled at his smile. Rachel was seriously now in a pissed off mood. "I'm sure everyone would, but unfortunately I don't care what everyone else wants." She looked over him and saw the Unholy Trinity by their lockers, watching them with great interest. Rachel had a gut feeling that they may have put Jacob up to this, if not it was undoubtedly Finn, in hope of getting answers.

"Why would you break up with him? Which, by the way, I'm happy about." Jacob leered at her.

"Look here, you vile little worm, I don't have to answer you, and I don't have to explain myself to anyone for breaking up with Finn, and I would also appreciate that you fucking stop leering at me and piss off." Rachel sneered angrily at him.

Jacob stood there with shock clearly written over his face but that didn't last long, he quickly school his facial expression and smirked at Rachel, "My, My, aren't you being a bit aggressive. Did you break up with him to be with Puck?" he asked, taking a step closer to Rachel.

"Back the fuck off now." Rachel spat out, taking a step backwards, "Now, listen here, you loathsome little weasel, stay the hell away from me for now on. If you came within 5 meters of me, I'm going to shove that microphone for yours so far up your ass; you'll be shitting it out in pieces for weeks. Do you understand me?" Rachel snarled venomously.

Jacob just stood there in fear he had never expected Rachel to speak to him like that. Sure, he was used to others talking to him like that but never the girl he was obsessed with. He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly with no sound coming out. Rachel slammed her hand against the lockers that caused Jacob to jump a few feet into the air. At the sound everyone stopped what they doing and turned to see Rachel's hand still on the lockers as she glared furiously at the now terrified Jacob.

"Did you hear me, I asked if you understand?" Rachel snarled out, slamming her hand against the locker for the second time.

Jacob jumped up in fear, "y-y-yes I understand." Jacob gulped in fear.

"Good, cause if you come near me again, you will be in a world of pain. Now fuck off." Rachel glared murderously at the boy before he spun around and took off down the hall; he tripped over his feet twice as he ran away in fear.

Rachel sighed in relief, she leaned against the locker. When she looked up and surveyed the hallway and saw that almost all the students were watching her; unable to move from witnessing the scene that had unfold before them.

"I guess you taught him a lesson." Noah chuckled as he glided up to her and leaned against the locker next to her.

"Yeah, I did, but for how long until he comes crawling back?" Rachel sighed.

"Mm, knowing him, I say it won't last long. Possibly a week tops?" Noah replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

"That is what I thought as well. His obsession with me will win over my threat." Rachel sighed.

"Do you want me to go and reinforce the threat too? It might help if it comes from me as well." Noah asked, looking at her.

"Noah, I am grateful that you want to do that, but you can't. You have to be careful, you are still on probation." Rachel told him.

"Fuck, you're right." Noah pouted, "I can't have any fun."

Rachel giggled at his pouted, "We will work something out."

Noah chuckled at his friend and looked around the hallway. He could see that most of the students were watching the pair as they talked to each other. He spotted Santana, Brittany and Quinn looking towards them, Santana and Quinn were both glaring angrily at the pair of them while Brittany looked almost scared.

Noah nudged Rachel in the side, she looked up at him and he pointed with his head towards the direction of the three cheerleaders. Rachel sighed when she looked the three of them and their facial expressions.

"You want to be careful. Santana is pissed at you for calling her desperate yesterday." Noah told her.

"I'm not surprised, although, I was actually calling Finn desperate not her. It was a slip of the tongue." Rachel huffed.

Noah chuckled, "Yeah, that may be true, but she doesn't know that. I did warn her to stay away from you."

"Of course you did, but from what I can see, I don't think she took your warning seriously." Rachel replied as she looked back at the glaring Latina.

"No, I don't think she did. You know what Santana's like. May be you should just tell her that it wasn't her that you were calling desperate."

"You want me to apologize to Satan, are you shitting me?" Rachel asked mocked horrified as she looked at Noah.

"She may be ok about it after you do." Noah shrugged his shoulders.

"Are we even talking about the same Santana? The girl; who carries razor blades in her hair." Rachel asked.

"Okay, I see your point but you never know." Noah told her.

"I'm not going to apologize at this point. She can be angry at me all she likes. I really don't care." Rachel told him.

"Do what you want, Okay? I just don't want you to get hurt." Noah said sadly as he looked at his friend.

"Noah, I know you are worried but I can take care of myself." Rachel replied.

"I know you can, but just be careful okay." Noah smiled at her.

"I am always careful." Rachel replied, giving Noah a small smile.

Noah chuckled at his friend, "I know you are, oh by the way, I thought you should know that Finn asked me to stay away from you."

Rachel sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, "Why am I not surprised that he asked you do that?"

"It's in his nature." Noah laughed, "I guess he doesn't want history to repeat its self."

"EW, that's gross. That is so not going to happen." Rachel replied, fake gagging.

"Ouch, you wound me." Noah gasped out, faking that he was hurt by her words.

Rachel giggled at him, "You know what I mean."

"I know you do. Come on lets go to class." Noah replied as he moved off the locker, "May I do the honors of escorting you to class, Milady," holding out his hand for her.

Rachel giggled at his antics, "I would be honored, kind sir." Rachel slipped her arm around his and allowed him to walk her to class.

Everyone that was left in the hallway watched Rachel and Noah walk down the hallway, talking and laughing with each other, they now believed that the rumors to be true. That Rachel and Puck were together. Is this why Rachel broke with Finn? Was she cheating on him with Noah? What else is going to happen?

The three cheerleaders watched the two of them walk passed them without looking at them. Santana and Quinn quietly communicated with each other and agreed that it was time to get some damn answers from them and that they just needed to find a way to confront them and hopefully Santana can get some revenge for Rachel's comment.

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><p>The morning quickly went by for Rachel even with the looks she received from the students. Some of the whispers about her made it to her ears. She was able to hear what everyone was gossiping about. Rachel didn't even care what they were saying about her. There were so many rumors and theories about her and why she broke up with Finn and now sadly Noah was brought into the picture. Of course, Rachel was used to people talking about her and shit like that but sometimes Rachel wondered why people were interested in talking about her and that there were better things to talk about.<p>

Rachel had seen Finn walk sadly down the hall between classes, his shoulders were slumped and she could see how miserable he was. It looked like he hadn't slept in days; she could clearly see the dark circles under his eyes but that could be due to the punch she had given him. His clothes were disheveled and looked dirty, like they had been just thrown it on. Rachel knew by looking at him, she could tell that it was an act; he wanted everyone to see he was the victim and intended to make Rachel to feel like the bad guy and cause the students of McKinley to treat Rachel as the villain. What Finn didn't realize that Rachel didn't care about his pathetic performance; she actually found somewhat amusing and pointless. She could see that this was undoubtedly his way of getting people to swoon at his feet and quite possibly to feel sorry for him. Finn cared about his popularity and his golden boy status, it was the main reasons that Rachel went after him last year, but now she just wanted to move on.

Rachel trekked to the cafeteria for lunch, and headed straight for the table in the far corner away from everyone else. The students watched her movements very carefully, and whispered amongst themselves as they theorized about the rumors. The New Directions all sat together at the other end of the cafeteria and had a prefect view of where Rachel sat, even the Unholy Trinity opted to sit with the New Directions; the only one missing from the table was Puck.

The whole table, discussed the rumors and tried to come up with their own answers, but sadly they were left at a standstill as no one could come up with answers that could possibly be the truth. Finn sulked at the end of the table not paying any attention to the conversation that was taking place around him. He kept looking over at Rachel dejectedly. He had hoped that Rachel would have come around by now and had gotten back with him, or at least talked to him about the reason behind their break up.

Santana had been fuming since yesterday's glee practice when Rachel called her desperate. She didn't like that the girl had said something like that to her. She wanted to get the hobbit back. She knew that Brittany had a point and that she should just let it go but the truth was; that she was hurt by the comment more than anything else. Santana was the type of person who held a grudge and she wasn't going to allow Rachel 'Fucking' Berry to get away with it. Santana smirked at the idea of getting revenge, it is the one thing she did best at.

The whole cafeteria became quiet when Puck entered. Everyone watched as he strolled in further and scanned the area. The gleeks and the cheerleaders all sat there patiently as his eyes met theirs, they all had stopped breathing, hoping that he would make his way over to the table. Pucks eyes didn't linger at the table for long and went back to his scan until he came across what he was searching for. Everyone watched as Puck made his way over to where Rachel was sitting alone. When he reached the table and got closer to Rachel, he bent down and kissed Rachel on her forehead before proceeding to sit down next to her. Rachel bent down and grabbed a container for her bag and gave it to Puck before she continued to eat her own lunch. Noah opened the container and smiled than kissed Rachel on the cheek and Rachel gave Noah a small smile in return, then he went ahead and ate his own homemade sandwich that Rachel had taken the time to make for him that morning.

Finn watched as his ex-best friend had kissed his ex-girlfriend twice. He stared at them angrily, not happy with how close they sat to each other and as they seemed to be in their own world. Finn couldn't allow them to be together. He had to find a way for Rachel to get back with him.

The students stopped watching Noah and Rachel and continued to eat they own lunch, and gossiping.

"Well, that just confirmed the rumors that Puckleberry 2.0 is on." Mercedes said as she went to her own lunch after watching Puck kiss Rachel twice.

"I don't think they are together." Tina replied.

"Oh please girl, he kissed her twice, of course they are together." Mercedes scoffed, turning to look at the girl.

"Just because he kissed her on the forehead and the cheek does not mean that they are automatically together. I believe they were his way of showing comfort and saying thank you." Tina told her. She didn't believe the rumors that they were together, she believed that they were only friends like Puck had told them yesterday.

"You might be right, but please explain why we are only hearing and seeing that they are friends now and not earlier? I mean, why keep it a secret from us all, all this time?" Mercedes asked the group.

"I don't know but they must have their reasons to keep their friendship quiet from everyone." Artie answered before anyone else could give their opinion on the subject.

"That might be true but didn't Puck used to bully Rachel and throw slushes at her. I mean; if they were friends, don't you think that he wouldn't have done that to her?" Mike said, playing with his food.

"You would think that, but maybe there were reasons behind that." Tina replied back to her boyfriend.

"Please, they aren't friends. It's more likely that Puck wants to get into Berry's pants. Although I don't know why anyone would want to be with her." Santana hissed out angrily, flipping her pony tail.

"This is Berry's way of getting attention since she lost her solo. Plus she's upset since she found out that Finn lied to her. She just wants to hurt him." Quinn commented as she looked up at the pair across the cafeteria.

"Of course it is. The Hobbit wants to create drama." Santana replied as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Man hands must have something on Puck to get him to pretend to be her friend." Quinn said to the group, "She loves the attention, because who would want to be friends with someone like her?"

"She's not that bad, and I don't believe that Rachel blackmailed Puck into being her friend." Tina replied to Quinn's comment.

"Then why else would he be friends with the annoying, selfish diva? She has no fashion sense and rambles constantly till the point wheres I wants to punch her in the face." Santana asked as she looked around the group.

"Okay all that is all true, but that doesn't answer any of our questions." Mercedes replied.

"You are all blind." Brittany said to the group as she watched Noah and Rachel.

"Britt, what do you mean that we are blind?" Santana asked softly at the blonde cheerleader.

"You are being blinded by the rumors; that is why you can't see the truth." Brittany replied to Santana's question.

"And you can see the truth?" Quinn asked her friend.

"I can, but I'm not going to tell you." Brittany sighed as she looked at everyone at the table.

"Why not? Shouldn't you just tell us, it might be helpful?" Mercedes snapped at the tall, blonde cheerleader.

"Don't talk to Brits that way, Wheezy, or I'll fucking cutz you." Santana hissed out at the other diva,

"It's not my place to say, cause I might be wrong." Brittany commented.

"Maybe we should just go ask her?" Mercedes said.

"Worst. Idea. Ever. Did you not see what happened with Jacob this morning?" Artie replied, "She scared the shit out of him."

"I think anyone could scare the creep with the right attitude." Quinn huffed, looking at the pair across the cafeteria, trying to put the puzzle about their relationship together.

"So what the hell should we do about it?" Mercedes asked as she watched Rachel leave the table for the other side.

Santana picked up her things and then stood up, "Fuck this, I'm going to go find out now and putz this to an endz." She looked at the others then left the table and quickly followed Rachel out.

"I'm going with her cause I so want to know what the hell is going on." Quinn told the others as she too followed Santana and Rachel. Brittany packed up her things and she too followed her friends, knowing where they were headed.

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><p>Rachel could feel everyone's eyes on her when she left the cafeteria, she silently made her way to the bathroom near where her next class was. Rachel looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. Today had been a tough one for her so far, the whispers, the staring it was becoming a bit much for her. Rachel closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she faintly heard the bathroom door open, and footsteps approach her. Rachel opened her eyes and saw the Unholy Trinity in the mirror as they stood behind her. Rachel sighed and turned around and faced them.<p>

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Rachel asked in an uninterested tone.

"Shut it, man hands, we're about to have a smack down and to have a little chat." Quinn growled out through her teeth.

"That's right, youz needs to pay for yesterday." Santana sneered at the other brunette.

"So this is about yesterday?" Rachel asked in her bored tone again, looking at the three girls, who were watching her.

"Of course this about yesterday, why else would we be here?" Santana scoffed angrily, crossing her arms.

"Well, I thought you were here, just to use the bathroom." Rachel answered sarcastically.

"You think you are so smart. You need to remember you place, Berry." Quinn retorted, glaring at the girl.

"I'm well aware of my place here at the school; which is; underneath you." Rachel spat out.

"Wanky." Both Santana and Brittany muttered, both earning a glare from their captain.

Rachel giggled at their comment, "You know what I mean. I'm at the bottom of the social ladder. A loser. It's hard not to forget since you placed me there." Rachel scowled at them.

"Good to hear that. I would hate to remind you." Quinn responded to Rachel.

"No, you wouldn't hate it; you would love it. You love reminding people where they stand in this school. You love the control and influence that you have and you don't want anyone taking that away from you." Rachel stated bitterly, glaring at the blonde captain.

"Watch yourself, Berry." Quinn clenched out, "You know nothing."

"I know more than you think, Fabray." Rachel answered angrily, she was getting sick and tired of this, "This is pointless, just tell me what you want so I get to class?"

"We're here coz you called me desperate yesterday and I don't like people saying shit like that about me." Santana sneered at the other brunette in the bathroom.

"Seriously, is that all? You had all morning to get your so called revenge for one little word. You could have slushied me or had someone else do it for you. So pray tell; why did you wait till now? Oh, I know, is it because you wanted to hit me without witnesses?" Rachel mocked the Latina cheerleader, "Yes, that's the answer isn't?"

All three of them stared at Rachel as she mocked Santana, before any of them could answer, Rachel continued, "You don't want to get into trouble do you?" Rachel chuckled at the now angry cheerleader, "If you want to hit me, then FUCKING hit me?" She all but shouted out at them.

Rachel took a step closer to the brunette cheerleader, "Hit me Lopez, I know you want to." Rachel cocked her head to the side, "It would make you feel _so_ much better, wouldn't it?" Rachel continued to mock her, "Unless you want to pull out your _hojas de afeitar_ and cut me with them." _(Translate: razor blades in Spanish)_.

Rachel looked at the three stunned cheerleaders as she continued to ridicule Santana, knowing she was going to be slapped any minute, if she carried on this way. "What's it going to be Lopez, cause I haven't got all day. If you're going to hit me then fucking do it already. It's the only way that will make you feel better about yourself. You don't like people saying shit about you. It's the only way you have the power of the mindless students here. If you're going to do it, then do it now Lopez or lose _everything _that you hold dear, cause…." Rachel didn't finish her sentence as Santana's palm connected to Rachel's left cheek very hard.

The sound of the slap echoed through the bathroom. All four of them were rooted to the floor, not one of them knew what to say. Rachel knew there was a high possibility of getting slapped from Santana, and was quite positive that she deserved it; as she had just goaded the cheerleader.

Rachel could feel the pain in her left cheek and knew that it will certainly bruise if she didn't put ice on it soon, but not only that, she could taste the blood in her mouth. She poked the tip of her tongue to the corner of her mouth and could feel that the slap from Santana had caused her lip to split. Rachel sighed and looked at the other three girls that stood in front of her. The bathroom was silent except for the deep breathing from the four. No one knew how to respond.

Rachel studied the girls in front of her, Santana looked stunned and also what looked like confusion, but her eyes held no anger like they did a few minutes ago instead they held no emotions. Brittany on the other hand was sad, it was clear as day. Rachel could see the sadness radiating from her face, and that her eyes held tears that threatened to fall at any moment. Quinn was the last one to be surveyed and her facial expression confused the diva more than the other two. Quinn appeared to be in pain and her eyes were full of sadness. Why would Quinn look pained and sad? Shouldn't she be happy that someone had finally hit her? Rachel made the decision to work out the answers to her questions at another time.

Rachel turned to the mirror and took in her appearance; she could see the red hand print left by Santana. Blood from her lip trickled down her chin, she went over to the wall and grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and placed it on her lip in order to stop the bleeding. She looked back at the three girls who observed her movements. Rachel gathered up her bag and headed towards the door, she looked over her shoulder to see that the cheerleaders were still watching her.

Rachel giggled quietly even though, it reached the cheerleaders ears, "At least, you got to do what so many people have wished to do, Lopez. You should be happy that you finally got chance to hit to me. Don't worry; I won't tell anyone what happened." Rachel smirked at the three of them, "Oh and by the way Lopez, I wasn't actually calling you desperate; only Finn, so I do apologize. Well, I must say this has been fun, see you three around." And with that Rachel left the bathroom leaving the three girls standing in the middle of the bathroom.

"I can't believe you actually hit her, Santi." Brittany said miserably, after the bathroom door closed. Quinn and Santana both could hear the disappointment that laced Brittany's tone.

"Me either. I didn't know what else to do. The way she mocked and taunted me, I guess was too much for me." Santana replied sadly at the disappointed Brittany. Santana actually did feel guilty about slapping the Diva.

"That may be true, but it didn't mean that you had to hit her and she just apologized for yesterday. So you should apologize as well." Brittany told her.

"I know she just apologized, but I don't think I can apologize to her; after all, she brought it on herself." Santana grumbled, not happy that her friend was upset with her.

"That may be true Santi, but doesn't mean you had to use violence." Brittany said sadly. Santana didn't reply to her best friend, she was unsure what to say.

"You do realize that we didn't get what we actually wanted from her?" Quinn stated her friends after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh, you mean what is going between her and Puck?" Brittany sadly replied.

"Well fuck me!" Santana groaned, clearly forgotten their true purpose for following the Diva to the bathroom.

"I rather not." Quinn responded to Santana's comment.

"Oh HA-HA, blondie. So what should we do about it?" Santana replied as she gave her captain a smirk.

"Nothing, we leave it for now. I think we have done enough damage to Rachel." Brittany expressed.

Santana sighed and looked at Brittany and could see that her friend was pleading her with her eyes, "Fine, we will leave it for now."

"I agree that we shouldn't try Berry again, so instead I think we should try Puck." Quinn suggested to the pair.

"He could be easier to get answers from." Santana replied as she looked at Quinn, "A few well-placed threats and he'll be putty in the palm of our hands." Santana and Quinn both shared a dark smirk between them.

"If we can keep him away from Berry, long enough to question him." Quinn replied, looking at the both of them.

"And that Rachel doesn't tell him about Santana hitting her." Brittany commented, "He might not give us anything if he did know."

"Fuck, why do I get the feeling that slapping Berry may come back to haunt me." Santana grumbled before sighing.

"Then we just have to hope that she doesn't. She did say that she wouldn't tell anyone." Quinn answered, hoping Rachel would keep her word and not say anything.

"We should try after glee practice and see what he has to say unless you want to tell us what you might think is going on between them, B?" Santana said, asking her best friend.

"I could but I might be wrong and I wouldn't want to upset anyone." Brittany said reluctantly, hoping her friends will drop the subject.

Santana and Quinn both sighed, knowing that they weren't going to get Brittany's idea on the subject, "Alright then, we'll ask Puck." Quinn said, "We should get to class."

Brittany and Santana both nodded their heads in agreement.

"Did you guys notice that Rachel used your last names not your first?" Brittany commented, just before they all left the bathroom, "She's never done that before. She always calls us by our first. Why the sudden change?"

Santana and Quinn were both stumped by Brittany's question. They didn't even notice it till the tall blonde brought it up. What Brittany said was true, Rachel had never called anyone by their last name before unless a teacher or parent.

"I don't know Britt-Britt. Could have been a once off. Maybe we should wait and see if she does it again." Santana replied.

"Okay." Brittany said, unsure if she believed that this was a once off.

With that the three of them headed in the direction of their next class. All three of them were still left with a lot of unanswered questions. How long would it take till they got so answers?

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><p>Rachel spent the rest of her afternoon classes in the nurse's office. Rachel wasn't embarrassed or humiliated about being slapped by Santana; she didn't want to face the countless questions that she would receive if she entered a classroom. There were already so many rumors and whispers about her and she didn't want to add to them.<p>

It was almost time for her to attend glee practice; she knew that she would most likely be bombarded with questions, which would more likely spread to the rest of the school by the morning. She came to the conclusion while she sat in the office that she would have to face the interrogations sooner or later and might as well get it over and done with.

Rachel gathered up her things, took a quick look in the mirror and was able to see the bruise had formed on her cheek in the precise shape of Santana's hand. Rachel sighed at it; she couldn't bother applying make-up onto her cheek to cover it up.

Rachel looked at time and realized that she was five minutes late, but she couldn't care less. She left the nurse's and strolled down the hallway to the choir room. Rachel calmed her nervous by taking a deep breath and entered the room.

Rachel noticed that everyone expect Mr. Schue had gathered in the room. From the corner of her eye she spotted that the Unholy Trinity observing her movements from their seats. Everyone had stopped talking when she moved further. Finn sulked from the corner away from everyone.

Puck stood up from chair that was next to Lauren and walked towards Rachel. Rachel noticed that his eyes were swirling with anger. His fists were clenched together as he approached her.

"Where have you been, Rae, and what the fuck happened to your cheek?" Noah asked angrily as he got closer to Rachel and noticed the bruise on her cheek.

"I was at the nurse's office that is all." Rachel replied calmly, hoping it might calm the boy.

"Okay, but who the hell slapped you?" Noah asked furiously.

"Noah, don't worry about it, I'm fine." Rachel calmly told him, taking a quick look around the room, almost everyone was stunned to hear and see that Rachel had been struck across the cheek. The Unholy Trinity shuffled anxiously in their seats; worried that Rachel might explain what had happened to her.

"You are mostly certainly not fine. Tell me who the punk bitch is that gave you that bruise?" Noah asked again.

"Noah, calm down, ok. It's not important, so just drop it." Rachel replied, hopeful that Noah would drop the subject.

"Fine, just as long as it wasn't fuckwit over there." Noah sighed, knowing better then to fight with Rachel.

"Who? Hudson? No he didn't do this." Rachel responded,

"Hey! I would never hit her!" Finn shouted out, jumping up from his chair.

"And yet you almost left a bruise on her wrist when you grabbed it a few days ago." Noah said, moving in front of Rachel in order to protect her.

"That was an accident!" Finn shouted, marching up to Noah to get in his face.

"That was no accident, she asked you to remove it twice and you didn't."

"And I got punched in the face because of it. I'm the victim here not her." Finn whined out, pointing to his nose.

"You deserved it; so stop whining." Noah sneered at the tall boy.

"ENOUGH!" Rachel shouted, "Hudson, go sit down and Noah, calm down. We don't have time to play the blame game. We have sectionals in a few days so we should focus on that and nothing else until after."

"Fine, but this isn't over." Finn huffed and marched back to his chair.

"Agreed." Noah said calmly, he took Rachel's hand and walked her to the chair next to his that was away from everyone else.

"Seriously, can't we go one day without drama?" Mercedes muttered to Tina, who was sitting next to her.

"I happen to agree, but it does make life more interesting." Tina replied to the girl next to her.

"I guess, but it's always the same people and it kind of gets boring after a while." Mercedes sighed and Tina just nodded her head.

Mr. Schue arrived and put a hold on all conversations. Rachel zoned out as practice went on. She wasn't in the mood to practice with everyone but as sectionals was approaching, she made sure to put in the right amount of energy to avoid suspicion from the teacher. Half an hour of into practice, Becky strolled in in her Cheerios uniform which caused practice to come to a halt. Mr. Schue sighed, knowing that she was probably there to deliver a message from Coach Sylvester.

Santana and Quinn shared a nervous glance towards each other and were worried that the message was for them, that somehow the Coach found out about Santana slapping Rachel. They watched anxiously as Becky walked further into the room.

"Becky, what can I do for you?" Mr. Schue asked nicely, knowing full well that he had to be extra nice to the girl as she reported to Sue.

"I have a message to deliver." Becky replied to the Glee coach,

"What message does Coach Sylvester want to give me?" Mr. Schue sighed, hoping the crazy coach didn't want to see and have a go at him for something that he didn't do.

"The message isn't for you." Becky answered Mr Schue's question.

"Oh, who is it for then? The cheerleaders?" Mr Schue asked, sighing as he looked at the three cheerleaders who were looking at the other cheerleader and he could see that they were nervous about something.

"No, it isn't for them," Becky said, looking at the teacher before she looked around the room to find the person the message was for, "The message is for Rachel Berry."

Everyone's attention snapped to Rachel, who was speechless and was gaping at the small cheerleader. Rachel pondered why the coach would want to see her. Noah looked at Rachel who was seated next him and could clearly see that Rachel was confused. He nudged Rachel in the side with his elbow, hopping that it would snap Rachel out of it.

Rachel shook her head in order to wake herself up, then stood up slowly from her chair and made her to Becky. When Rachel stood a few feet away from the girl, Becky handed over a folded up piece of paper. Rachel sighed as she opened the note and read it to herself.

_Rachel,_

_We need to talk, NOW._

_C.S.S._

Rachel groaned after she finished reading the note. She had no freaking idea why the Coach would want to see her. She folded the note and handed it back to Becky, she didn't want the note in her possession just in case it fell into the wrong hands, although it didn't say much.

Becky took the note and looked at Rachel and told her, "I'll take you to her, she's waiting for you."

Rachel sighed again and ran her fingers through her hair, "Okay, just let me grab my bag."

Becky nodded her head and watched as Rachel turned around and trekked back to her seat to grab her bag.

"Rachel, what is going on? Why does the Coach want with you?" Mr. Schue asked in a nervous tone. He wondered why Sue would want to see Rachel. Is she going to use Rachel to destroy the New Directions?

"I don't know, all I know she just wants to see me." Rachel replied as she picked her bag up and looked at him.

"Do you want me to come with you so you don't feel pressured to do something for her?" Mr Schue asked, hoping that Rachel would agree so he could find out what Sue is up to.

"I should be fine, Mr Schue. You don't need to come with me, I can handle the Coach on my own," Rachel told him, Rachel really didn't want Mr Schue to follow her, however she did hear two people behind her scoff at her comment, she knew full well who they were.

"I think it is best that I do, for support." Mr Schue demanded; he didn't want Rachel to be alone in that meeting just in case Sue would try and get Rachel to do something, or ever try and get Rachel to work with her.

"Mr. Schue, that is kind of you, but I can do this on my own. Anyway, you have practice to continue. Becky, lead the way." Rachel said. Before Mr. Schue could argue, she walked out the door with Becky following behind her.

"Mr. Schue, you're not going to let her go by herself, are you? What if she's going to make Rachel spy on us?" Finn whined out a few seconds after Rachel left the room.

"Finn, there is nothing I can do. Rachel made it clear that she doesn't want me there." Mr Schue replied, sighing. He had hoped that Rachel would have agreed to him being there.

"Rachel's probably working with the coach because she didn't get a solo, and she knows that the Coach has it out for the glee club." Mercedes piped in, almost everyone nodded their head to this as they agreed with what she said.

"I didn't think of that." Mr Schue mumbled, "But I don't think she would go that far."

"Then why else would she go see the Coach." Mercedes replied back to the clueless teacher. She knew that Rachel was pissed off that she didn't get a solo for sectionals and she was positive that Rachel would do anything to get back at Mr Schue for not allowing her to have it. "Rachel hates it when things don't go her way."

"Back off, Jones. You know nothing, Rachel doesn't care that she didn't get a solo for sectionals, so stop saying shit about her." Puck growled at her.

"Language." Mr. Schue scowled at Puck, but he was ignored.

"Oh please, of course I know Rachel and she's willing do anything to get the attention she wants." Mercedes scoffed.

"Watch it. As I said you know nothing about Rachel and she isn't doing this to attention. None of you know Rachel the way I do, she couldn't careless that she didn't get the solo." Noah sneered at the girl.

"Then what do you know about this?" Mercedes asked, glaring at Puck.

"Nothing and even I did, I wouldn't tell you." Puck scoffed, crossing his arms, "Mr. Schue I suggest that we continue with practice, instead of speculating things about Rachel which aren't true." Noah wanted everyone to stop coming up with outrageous things about his friend. Noah sat there forming a plan in order to get some answers from Rachel.

"Of course. Right, everyone start from the top." Mr. Schue told the class, hoping that this would stop any arguments in the choir room between his students.

Everyone went back to practice, wondering if Rachel would return and get some answers to why the Coach would want to see her. They each had their questions and assumptions and each hoped that Rachel would answer them soon.

* * *

><p><strong>Let me know what you think. This chapter took me a few times to get right and I'm still not happy with how things went.<strong>

**There was a reason why Santana slapped Rachel and why Rachel taunted Santana to do it and the answers will be given later on in the story.**

**Why does Coach Sylvester want to see Rachel? I would love to hear your thoughts about this. i would like to see if anyone can guess the reason. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for all the reviews, they mean a lot to me. **

**Some dialogue is from the show, (episode 9) but I have had my own twist to it to make it fix into my story, like I did for pervious chapters and will more likely continue for future chapters. This chapter is a filler.**

**Thanks to Wheelie91 for editing this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters they are all owned by FOX. Or the songs that are mention.**

**Warning: some swearing, some bashing. **

* * *

><p>Chapter Four:<p>

Rachel had been quiet of the last couple days since Coach Sylvester requested her presence in her office. Of course when she arrived at school the following day, most of the New Directions hounded her for answers and asked why the Coach wanted to see her. They went as far as to call Rachel a spy and traitor and that had actually hurt her more than anything. Of course, Rachel was no traitor or even working with Coach but she couldn't exactly tell the truth about the meeting. She was worried about the reactions of her team mates would give if the truth was ever told. Rachel ignored all their questions and didn't answer anyone. Noah tried his hand at asking her questions but Rachel just replied that he will get the answers to his questions in due time, she just hoped that once he was told the truth that it wouldn't destroy their friendship and that Rachel had kept something from him. After that Noah left Rachel alone and was satisfied with her answer.

Finn, on the other hand, followed Rachel everywhere and tried to trap her in classrooms in order to get answers. He was becoming a problem for her and was always harassing her to the point where she might have to knock the boy out or take it to the principal, but due to the fact that it was almost sectionals she decided to wait and then take it from there. In Finn's mind he had come to the conclusion that had her attention focused on sectionals and would mostly be back to her normal self once they were done. Finn still believed that she was just upset with the whole Santana thing and just needed time to cool off and re-gather herself. In his free time he had started planning ways to win Rachel back.

What had surprised Rachel the most was that Santana and Quinn and even Brittany didn't get in on the interrogation like the others. Instead they kept their distance from Rachel, they didn't even acknowledge her in classes or the hallways it was like that Rachel didn't even exist to them, which suited Rachel. Rachel had thought that they would be the most likely candidates to hound her with questions, even Mr. Schuester got in to it, everyone heard the argument between him and Coach Sylvester about her meeting with Rachel, but she didn't even answer him, instead she just insulted him like she always does.

Even though the Unholy Trinity kept their distance from Rachel, it didn't stop Rachel from analyzing and observing the three of them. Rachel had noticed that Brittany didn't spend a lot of time around the other two; she was either practicing for sectionals or with her boyfriend, Artie. Rachel, however, caught Brittany a few times over the last few days watching or studying her for some reason. Every time that Rachel had caught Brittany in her staring, Brittany would give Rachel a small, sad smile before turning attention back to whatever she was doing previously.

Santana, on the other hand, wouldn't make any contact with Rachel at all; it was like the Diva didn't even exist to the Latina cheerleader. Santana didn't throw insults or cruel nicknames in Rachel's direction. Quinn was pretty much like Santana, and pretended that Rachel wasn't in the same room as her or anywhere near her. Although; there had been times where Rachel could have sworn that she saw Quinn staring at her, with her hazel eyes filled with emotions that Rachel couldn't described. Rachel imagined that they had probably planned to confront her after Sectionals were done.

* * *

><p>It was competition day and Rachel found herself at the refreshment counter; yelling at the poor guy that happened to serve her.<p>

"Then go down to 7-11 get some. I need raisonettes!" Rachel yelled frustrated.

"Carb loading?" Kurt asked as he arrived at the counter after having heard Rachel's voice yelling.

Rachel turned her head to the familiar voice and sighed when she saw Kurt standing there in his uniform, "Puck got Lauren Zizes to take your place and she won't go on unless she gets her damn candy! She's a warm body. Hey did you uh, get your solo?" Rachel replied.

"Sadly no." Kurt replied with a sad smile on his face.

"Oh wow, if you didn't get a solo then they must be really good. We are doomed." Rachel replied as her diva mask had slipped on but quickly took it off, "Sorry that was selfish. What I meant to say was, wow that really sucks, I'm sure you were really good."

"I was. I mean, I think I was. Being in the Warblers has really made me question everything I thought about myself." Kurt told her as he kept a sad smile on his lips.

"Yeah…" Rachel shook her head, "what has become of us, Kurt?" Rachel replied before they sat down together on the chairs that were placed around the counter.

"So, do you miss us?" Rachel asked with a smile on her lips after she had sat down.

"I do." Kurt said, smiling before continuing, "Being a Warbler is great but I don't think they appreciate my individuality as much as you guys did. And I can't help but think that I let you guys down." Kurt replied.

"It's your life Kurt. You weren't safe at McKinley anymore and we all get it." Rachel told him.

"How come you were never this nice to me when I was your teammate?" Kurt asked, smiling at Rachel.

"Because you were my only real competition." Rachel replied, before both of them laughed together.

"True." Kurt replied before getting up and hugging Rachel, "So how's Finn? I feel bad; I haven't spoken to him since the wedding." Kurt asked after he sat back down.

Rachel stiffened at his question, she was surprised that Kurt had asked this, she assumed that he really knew what had taken place, "I haven't spoken to him much either, well, I'm trying to avoid him. He and I are no longer together. I broke up with him earlier this week."

"What? What do you mean that you broke up with him? You two were happy." Kurt replied, shocked at hearing that Glee's power couple had broken up.

"I found out he and Santana were romantically involved and he lied to me about it," Rachel replied, looking at the confused Kurt.

"Wait, you didn't know about that?" Kurt gasped out; he had thought Rachel knew about that.

"No, I didn't know about it. Wait, _you_ knew about it?" Rachel asked, wondering how people actually knew and didn't tell her, although she wasn't upset about it.

"Yeah I did know. So you broke up with him because he didn't tell you?" Kurt asked, interested to know the answer. He didn't understand why she would break up with him over that.

Rachel sighed, running her fingers through her hair, "Well, not really. There were a few things that led me to break up with him. I guess that was the final straw." Rachel shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to go into detail.

"Okay, but I thought you guys were happy?" Kurt asked, wanting more details.

Rachel chuckled with no emotions, "Looks can be misleading. Actually, he wasn't happy about the break up, in the end I had to punch him which led to his nose being broken." Rachel replied.

"Why on earth would you punch him? You don't condone violence." Kurt commented, shocked at hearing that the Diva had punched his step brother.

Rachel sighed sadly knowing what Kurt had said was true, she didn't like violence, "Normally I don't, but it was necessary at the time, he wouldn't let go of my wrist even though I had asked him twice to do so. I know it was probably not the best course of action but I couldn't think of anything else to do. Finn, on the other hand, would probably tell you that I punched him because I was mad at him for lying to me."

"Okay, wow. It seems like I have missed a lot since leaving McKinley." Kurt giggled, still a bit stunned at hearing Rachel had punched Finn.

"Yeah, probably." Rachel replied, giggling along with Kurt as the bell rang for the competition to start.

"Kurt, they're calling places." Blaine walked up behind Kurt, "Hey." Blaine said to Rachel.

"Okay, good seeing you, Rachel." Kurt said, getting up from the chair.

"You too, Kurt. Good luck." Rachel replied before both Kurt and Blaine walked away.

Rachel made her way back to the dressing room in order to get ready. All the New Directions were ready and sat in the audience to watch the other two groups perform. First up: the Hipsters, they sang The Living Years, which was then followed by The Warblers. They sang Solo Sister which was really good, Rachel was the first to clap for Kurt and the other Warblers after they had finished performing; the rest of the New Directions followed Rachel and clapped for Kurt. It was almost time for the New Directions to perform. They had all gathered in the green room waiting for them to be called to perform.

The air in the green room was filled with tension and everyone was letting their nerves get the better of them. Some were chatting a way, hoping that it would calm their anxieties. Lauren was eating and mentioned to Puck that the costumes were causing chaffing in places which many had to agree with.

Quinn sat in the corner by the table, she was nervous and stressed as she was about to go perform a duet with Sam. She tried to focus on her breathing, hoping that it would calm her down.

Sam, who was seated next to Quinn, looked over at her and saw that she looked distraught, "You okay?" he asked her.

"No, I'm totally freaking out. Last time we performed in front of an audience I went into labour. I think I'm having post-traumatic stress disorder." Quinn rambled in a panicked voice.

"FYI I'm totally available to fill in." Mercedes piped up from the couch, reading a book.

"I should be fine, Mercedes." Quinn spat out, Sam continued to try and calm the blonde cheerleader.

Artie and Brittany were in the corner, clearly not happy with each other and they were in the middle of having a small disagreement. Brittany looked like she wanted to cry and Artie was mad. A few moments later, Artie rolled away with a scowl on his face. Tina had snapped at Mike who had just walked away.

Rachel finally entered the room, and noticed that she seemed to be the final team member except for Mr. Schue who happened to be somewhere else; everyone else had all gathered without her. Rachel scanned the room and noticed that the group was slowly falling apart at the moment. Some were nervous and it showed in their body language and facial expressions. Others seem to be mad or upset with someone. Finn had noticed the moment that Rachel arrived in the room. Finn had been watching the door, waiting for her to arrive. He's had enough of Rachel eluding and not talking to him. Finn decided that this would be the perfect occasion to finally get some responses as she would be unable to run from him.

"Rachel." Finn called out and got up from his chair, missing Rachel rolling her eyes at him. Everyone else in the room became discreet at this point so that they could listen in on the conversation, "Can you please talk to me? I want to know why you have been avoiding and not talking to me and what is going on with you?"

Rachel groaned at his statement, "This is not the time, nor place for this conversation, Hudson."

"Then, when is the right time, Rach? You have been avoiding me since you broke up with me, and since when do you call me by my last name? You been hanging out with Puck too much!" Finn spat out, tried of Rachel going around in circles.

"There hasn't been anything to say to you, plus, I've been focused on Sectionals. However; I do have a question for you?" Rachel asked, ignoring his comment about hanging with Noah too much, "Did you tell Kurt?"

"Umm, I don't remember, maybe." Finn replied, confused about the question Rachel had asked him.

"About Finn and Santana? No I think I told him." Mercedes piped in, before returning to pretend that she was reading the book in her hands.

"Who told you?" Rachel asked, turning her attention to Quinn,

"Me?" Quinn replied, confused that Rachel was talking to her, "I think Brittany told me. Or maybe it was Puck." Quinn looked around the room, trying not to make eye contact with Rachel.

"Yeah, maybe it was me." Puck replied sadly, he felt sorry for his friend that everyone knew about Santana and Finn before she did.

"Everybody knew about this but me?!" Rachel blurted out before sighing. She wasn't at all surprised that everyone knew.

"Pretty much." Tina replied,

"Nobody tells you anything because, A, you're a blabbermouth, and B, we just pretend to like you." Santana commented from the couch.

"Star, you know that's not true, I like you." Noah replied, winking at Rachel causing her to smile. Everyone looked between Noah and Rachel. Everyone wanted to know what the hell was going on between them.

Rachel sighed, "Well, I already came to the conclusion that most of you pretended to like me, at least now it's been confirmed." Rachel muttered.

"Look, Rachel, when this all happened, you were dating another guy. So you don't really have a right to be pissed at me and break up with me because of it okay? And fine, I shouldn't have lied about it but, to be honest, that isn't what you care about. You care about the _Santana_ of it all." Finn said, standing up and moving closer to Rachel.

Rachel stared at him, not believing the words that spewed out of his mouth. She couldn't believe that they were back to this. Finn was so fixated on this and he believed Rachel had broken up with because it was Santana. Yes, when she looked at it, it was partly true that she broke up with him because he slept with Santana and then lied about it, but there was more to it. She just couldn't take it anymore. Always pretending that she was happy with him and so in love. It got to the point where she was starting to lose herself. Rachel was at the breaking point, she'd had enough of all the drama. She saw from the corner of her eye that Santana had raised her hand in agreement.

Rachel sighed and calmed herself down before she replied to Finn, "You may think that but as I have already stated to you, I don't care that it was Santana that you chose to fuck, I could really care less." Rachel sighed before she continued, "But, as of right now, I don't have the patience to deal with this and it is most certainly not the right time or place." Rachel groaned as she ran her fingers through her hair, "Oh god, I really need a fucking drink right now."

Noah giggled at Rachel, "I could help you with that, later." he said as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Are you going to get drunk and sleep with Puck just to get back at me?" Finn spat angrily, everyone in the room were interested to know this. They didn't know that Rachel drank. This new Rachel was confusing them.

"Oh my fucking god, Finn!" Rachel screamed out furiously, glaring murderously at Finn, and causing everyone to jump out of their seats, '_Seriously who knew that a small girl would have a such a big voice' _"No, I'm not going to get drunk to engage in sexual relations with Noah, just to get back at you. Do you really think that I would be capable of doing that? Wait, don't answer that; you absolutely think that I would do that." Rachel sighed angrily, looking at Finn, "Do you actually even know me at all?"

"Best green room ever." Lauren muttered before putting a pretzel into her mouth.

"You know what? Don't answer me, I don't want hear what idiotic response you have, but if you carry on the way you have; I'll walk right out of this fucking room, because I'm not sure if I would be able to go on stage and perform with you fucking near me." Rachel said, just as Mr Schue walked in, shocked at hearing Rachel using swear words.

"Make that two subs. I'm not going out there with Brittany." Artie said, agreeing with Rachel about not performing.

"Me either!" Tina blurted out.

"Enough! Listen to yourselves!" Mr Schue shouted; everyone turned to look at the teacher, "I am ashamed of you. Think back to where you were this time last year. In this room, no set list, no choreography, no chance in Hell of winning. But you did win, because you did it together. Look, I don't care if you guys hate each other, all I want is for you guys to go out there, and sing together. Get up there, and for six minutes remind yourselves that you're not alone."

Everybody looked around at each other, most agreeing with Mr Schue's words. The bell went off as well as lights flickered off and on in the room, signalling that it was almost time for them to go on stage.

"Alright! Show time!" Mr Schue said as he clapped his hands together.

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><p>The New Directions had just finished performing on stage and now everyone had to wait for the judge's decision. Rachel stayed away from the rest of the group, she didn't want to be close to Finn, who kept giving her the lost puppy eye look, if not, he was glaring at Puck, who was with Lauren. Rachel enjoyed the performance they had done. She thought that Quinn and Sam's performance of 'I've Had The Time Of Life' was really great. It showed off their voices and how well they went together. Santana's performance of 'Valerie' was simply amazing and with Brittany and Mike's dance moves to top it off.<p>

Rachel still wasn't upset that she didn't get a solo, she was happy that other people were able to show off their talent. Some days she really hated portraying her diva mask. It had caused so many problems and they are still haunting her. Rachel looked around at the group and wondered if she would ever get accepted for who she is, the REAL her and not the mask she had worn for so long. Had she been too late and missed her chance? Would people think that this was an act to get further? So many questions plagued Rachel's mind. She hoped that in time she would get the answers that she sought.

The announcer called all three teams to the stage so that the winner could be announced. Rachel joined the rest of her group. She did, however, make sure that she stood away from Finn; she didn't want to give the guy hope.

"And now, this year's head judge, associate director of the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles, Mister Pete Sznowski." The announcer said over the speakers.

Rachel watched as the man strolled onto the stage and everyone became quiet. Rachel did a quick scan and noticed that all her team mates were nervous, they all hoped to make it to Regionals this year, so that they could have a shot at Nationals.

"Thank you, and thank you to all the groups who performed here today, we all had a seriously good time. You know what else, is a serious good time? Taking two minutes to save a life by filling out an organ donor card, because it's never too late to donate. Drumroll please. In third place, the Hipsters!" Pete, the judge, had shouted out.

The New Directions sighed as they watched the group leader go up to accept the award and to shake Pete's hand.

"Thank you, drive carefully. And now, the winner of this year's west central Sectionals is… it's a tie! Congratulations! You're all going to the Regionals!" the judge shouted out and the crowd went wild with applause and cheering for both teams.

Rachel was a little sad that they had tied with the Warblers but at the same time she was happy that the team was going to Regionals and Kurt was going to be there with the Warblers. Rachel left the stage rapidly, as she didn't want Finn around her and hoped that she would finally talk to him now that Sectionals were over with and that they were headed to Regionals.

By the time she had changed out of her costume, the rest of the girls had entered the dressing room, talking to each other. They were excited about winning Sectionals and were now going to Regionals. Some were making plans to hang out and celebrate on their win even if it was a tie. Rachel packed up her bag and sighed to herself; when she noticed that she wasn't included in the girls conversations, it was like that she didn't even exist to them. Santana had been right; they only pretended to like her when it suited them. Rachel quietly slipped out, trying to make sure that nobody noticed her leave however her escape didn't go completely unnoticed, two blondes had been paying attention and saw her slip out of the room.

Rachel made her way to the parking lot, to wait for everyone else to arrive so that they could board the bus and head back to the school. Rachel pulled out her iPod and put her headphones on and started to listen to some music. Rachel was so lost in the music that she didn't realize that someone was standing next to her.

"Hiding from someone?" Noah chuckled as he removed Rachel's headphones.

"Something like that." Rachel sighed, looking at Noah.

"Well, you aren't doing a very good job, standing in an open area." Noah smirked at her, trying to make Rachel smile, picking up that she wasn't happy.

"I am well aware of that. It's not like; I can actually hide, with needing a lift back to the school." Rachel deadpanned.

"I know that, geeze, you really need to lighten up, Star." Noah replied, frustrated at Rachel's attitude.

"Why thank you, Noah." Rachel replied sarcastically, and then sighed; she knew that Noah was trying to help. "Sorry, I didn't mean to take my attitude out on you."

"It's all good. I understand that you are stressed at the moment with the whole Finn stalking you thing." Noah chuckled lightly.

"I can't understand why he won't just leave me alone. I am so exhausted." Rachel groaned tiredly.

"You know him, he won't stop until you give him the answers he wants or the two of you get back together." Noah replied.

"There is no way I will get back with him." Rachel said angrily, looking at Noah.

"I know that but he won't stop though and you know that. I wouldn't be surprise if he starts doing grand gestures in order to win you back, it would probably be every glee practice." Noah told Rachel with a light chuckle.

"Oh god," Rachel groaned, putting her face in her hands, "I can so see him doing that." Rachel muffed out, through her hands.

"Yeah, so can I, putting that a side, we still need to have a chat." Noah said, looking at Rachel who raised her eyebrow at him silently asking him what about, "I've given you a few days because of sectionals but I need to know why Coach Sylvester wanted to see you?" Noah told her, then quickly looked behind his shoulder and saw that the others had gathered, observing the two of them. Noah sighed before turning back to Rachel, "And it looks like I'm not the only one." Noah pointed with his head to indicate the group behind him.

Rachel peered around him to see what Noah was talking about, Rachel exhaled loudly before turning her attention back to her friend, "so it would seem."

"What'd you have planned to deal with them, cause they aren't the type of people to leave it alone?" Noah asked.

"Not sure, but I'll think of something." Rachel muttered out.

"I hope you do, cause they might become a problem for you." Noah replied softly.

"I'll be fine; I'll deal with it when the time comes." Rachel said, looking at him.

"Good, I would hate to see you get hurt again, by the way, you still haven't told me who slapped you." Noah asked.

"I will tell you later." Rachel replied to him.

"Alright, let's go guys." Mr. Schue shouted before Noah could reply.

Both Rachel and Nah stayed where they were and waited for the others to climb onto the bus. Once the others board the bus, Rachel and Noah made their way to the bus.

"You going to be okay?" Noah asked quietly before they reached the bus.

"I'll be fine, I have my iPod." Rachel replied with a small smile on her face. Rachel watched as Noah nodded his head and boarded the bus. Rachel slipped on her headphones and walked onto the bus. Rachel took an empty seat and turned up her music and drowned out the others on the bus. She was grateful that Finn was busy talking with Sam and Mike and was leaving her alone. She stared out the window as the bus headed back to McKinley, ignoring the cheering and happiness that was around her.

* * *

><p>Rachel spent most of the day in hiding at school, even though the group was till on a high from tying at Sectionals, that didn't stop Finn from trying to get her attention. Rachel had become a master of disappearing throughout the school in order to evade Finn. Finn would always be around her locker and her classrooms, it was driving Rachel insane. She couldn't believe that the boy in question had become a stalker. Rachel knew that she couldn't keep it up for the whole day as they had a Glee meeting. Rachel hoped that it would a quick meeting so she could slip out and head home without him noticing and follow her.<p>

Rachel entered the choir room and noticed that she was the first one to arrive. She sat down in the corner away from the chairs and yearned that no one would sit next to her.

Slowly the rest of the team arrived, talking and laughing to each other. Rachel watched as they all gathered around the piano. Finn arrived, saw Rachel sitting by herself in the corner, he debated about going over to talk to her but in the end he decided to join the others around the piano. Rachel sighed in relief as she watched Finn join the others instead of trying to engage a conversation with her. Rachel looked towards the door and noticed Mike and Tina were the last to arrive, well, except for Mr. Schue.

"You changed your look!" Mike claimed as he entered the choir room with Tina,

Tina looked down at her clothes and replied, "Yeah, this is more me. Sorry I doubted you Mike."

"Asian kiss?" Mike smiled at her lovingly.

Tina laughed at Mike, "Asian kiss"

Just as they kissed, Mr Schue walked in with the trophy in his hand. _'Finally!"_ Rachel thought to herself,_ 'I just want to get the hell out of here.'_

"Congratulations guys! It wasn't pretty but we're moving on." Mr Schue said as he approached the group at the piano. Everyone began to cheer loudly, Rachel hadn't moved for her chair. She was happy that they had won, which would allow them to try and win Regionals. She just wasn't in the mood to celebrate with the others.

"And I, for one, am going to be happy to have Regionals and Nationals to focus on." Mr Schue said as soon as everyone had quietened down. _'As long as we don't do Journey again' _Rachel groaned to herself.

"Mr. Schue, we heard the news about Ms. Pillsbury marrying the finest dentist alive." Santana said to him sadly. _'Poor guy, I doubt that would stop him trying to get into her skirt.' _Rachel thought to herself.

"It's alright; we don't need to talk about it. Now, I know we've had our um, our dramas this week, but our family is back in a happy place, and I think we should celebrate, the best way we know how. Rachel, so how would you like to solo?" Mr. Schue asked as he turned to Rachel, who was seated away from the piano, laid back in her chair.

"Thanks but um, I don't really feel like a solo right now. I'd like to defer it to this week's two unsung heroes, Mercedes and Tina." Rachel replied, uninterested in singing. Everyone looked at Rachel stunned at hearing her turn down a solo, and offering it to Tina and Mercedes. It confused them that she would do that. They were all interested in why the change in Rachel.

"Well, don't have to ask me twice." Mercedes replied.

They all made their way to the auditorium where Tina and Mercedes performed 'Dog Days are Over', while the rest of the New Directions danced around happily in the background or around them and sang back up when ended. They were all having fun; even Rachel was enjoying the performance. She danced with Sam and Quinn towards the end of the song on the stairs on the stage. Rachel grabbed Quinn's hand and dragged her down the stairs while they danced back to rest. Rachel felt sparks radiate up her skin when she held Quinn's hand and it shocked her. She had never felt that before. Her heart started to beat faster when she saw Quinn had a sweet smile on her lips as they held hands. Rachel released her hand the moment they reached the others and finished up the song. Rachel tried to control her breathing in hope that it would calm her heart down. Her hand felt warm and tingly from holding Quinn's hand and all of a sudden she missed the warmth of Quinn's hand in hers. As soon as the song finished and they had a group hug, Rachel ran as fast as she could from the auditorium leaving behind a group of baffled and worried people. All of them where thinking WHAT THE HELL?

* * *

><p>Rachel immediately ran to the bathroom when she arrived at her house. She stripped her clothes off and jumped in the shower. She needed to calm herself down. She couldn't explain why her body reacted the way it did when she held Quinn's hand. Rachel did find Quinn to be a very attractive, young woman; but she didn't understand what had come over her. Rachel found Quinn to be a puzzle and that there were different layers to the girl and Rachel had always wanted to see all the different sides to her.<p>

After her shower, Rachel got dressed in her home clothes, wife beater, boxer shorts and trekked down the stairs to the living room. Rachel flopped on the couch and put a pillow over her face and screamed into it. Rachel was frustrated; she still couldn't explain why her body acted the way it did and still was. Her and Quinn had touched each other's hands before and even hugged and none of those triggered the spark that she received today. She had no fucking clue to want it meant. Rachel didn't like something that confused her and made her frustrated. Rachel decided to push those feelings that she felt to the back of her mind, there was no point trying to make sense of them, they could have been due to the excitement of the performance and the win at Sectionals.

Rachel's inner thoughts were cut off by the sound of the doorbell being rung. Rachel groaned loudly and stood up, throwing the pillow back onto the couch and trudged to the door. Rachel hoped that it wasn't Finn on the other side of the door. She knew that it wouldn't be Noah, he had already told her that he was busy, probably something with Lauren. Rachel reached the door, opened it and saw that it wasn't Finn standing there, but Brittany. Rachel sighed in relief that it wasn't Finn but that was soon taken over by confusion.

Rachel stared at the girl for few seconds as she tried to come up with reasons to why the tall blonde cheerleader would be on her porch and alone.

"Brittany, what brings you here?" Rachel asked, thoroughly confused to why Brittany would be at her house.

"Hi Rachel. I wanted to talk to you." The bubbly blonde replied, scanning Rachel's attire, Brittany thought that Rachel looked hot in what she was wearing.

"Okay, are you here by yourself?" Rachel asked, looking behind Brittany just in case that someone else was there.

"Yeah, I'm here alone. I'll be meeting up with Artie later. Umm, can I come in?" Brittany asked, smiling as she looked at Rachel

"Yeah, sure." Rachel said softly and moved to allow Brittany into the house.

Rachel closed the door as soon as Brittany made her way into the house, "Would you like something to drink?" Rachel asked the blonde cheerleader.

"No, thanks. I had a drink before coming here." Brittany replied happily as she looked around her. Brittany noticed that Rachel's house was very nice, it did have a warm vibe to it but there was something missing and Brittany couldn't pin point what it was.

Rachel nodded and led Brittany into the lounge, Brittany took the couch and Rachel sat down in the one of the arm chairs.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Rachel asked, looking at Brittany who had got comfortable on the couch.

"I wanted to tell you that Santana is sorry for slapping you, even though she won't tell you this to your face." Brittany told her sadly.

"Okay, thanks for letting me know even though it is completely unnecessary. I kind of deserved it." Rachel replied completely baffled as to why Brittany would apologize on behalf of Santana.

"Maybe, but Santana shouldn't have done it. Why did you do it though?" Brittany asked, curious to know why Rachel pushed Santana's buttons to the point that it did.

"I'm not sure, really. I guess it was a test?" Rachel replied as she shrugged her shoulders, not completely sure to why she taunted Santana although, she had a theory to why she did but she wasn't going to explain it to Brittany.

"Oh, okay. What kind of test?" Brittany asked curious to know why Rachel wanted to test Santana.

Rachel sighed quietly, "I can't explain what kind of test it was."

"Can you try, for me?" Brittany asked her.

"I can't Brittany, I don't have all the answers at the moment and also even though I like you, Brittany, I can't trust you. You might accidently tell Santana or Quinn. I'm sorry." Rachel replied as she now looked at the upset cheerleader. "Look I didn't mean to upset you; I just don't want people finding out, yet."

"It's okay; I think I understand what you are saying." Brittany muttered sadly, "Maybe I could show you that you can trust me." Brittany said a few seconds later.

"Only time can tell." Rachel replied, she wondered why Brittany wanted her to trust her, "Was there anything else you want to talk about it?"

"Oh, yeah. So you and Puck are friends?"

"Yes we are friends and have been for years."

"I had always thought that but you guys never acted like it at school until now, why is that?" Brittany asked.

"Both of us had our reason to keep our friendship a secret and it's very hard to explain." Rachel told her, watching Brittany nod her head,

"Why did you decide that it shouldn't be a secret anymore?"

"There are many reasons." Rachel sighed.

"You aren't going to tell me aren't you?" Brittany inquired,

"I want to tell you, but I can't." Rachel said sadly to the girl.

"Because you can't trust me?" Brittany asked upset that Rachel couldn't trust her.

"Yes, but it isn't just you, I don't trust anyone." Rachel replied.

"But you trust Puck?"

"Yes I trust Noah, he knows me."

"But he was mean and he bullied you for years!" Brittany exclaimed, confused to why Rachel had allowed her friend to bully her at school.

"I know that and he had his reasons for that." Rachel sighed, "Look, I really don't want to talk about this."

"Oh okay, maybe another time?" Brittany asked, pouting at Rachel, Rachel nodded in reply. "Cool, do you think that we could be friends?"

"What? Why do you want to be my friend now? Over the years you guys have made it clear that you didn't want to be friends with me, why now?"

"I've always wanted to be your friend but the others told me that I couldn't be your friend." Brittany said sadly, "so what do you say?"

Rachel sighed, not knowing what she should do, she liked the idea of being friends with Brittany, "Sure, Brittany, we can try and be friends."

"YAY!" Brittany shouted out for joy, she jumped of the couch and ran over to Rachel and pulled her into a hug._ 'Maybe being Brittany's friend could be a good thing' _Rachel thought to herself.

* * *

><p><strong>So what do you think? Please review.<strong>

**More to come in the next chapter.**


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